Not conservative... just rational

I still detest the term "conservative" to describe my particular brand of politics. I am, in no way, shape or form, opposed to change in mainstream American politics or Federal policy, as long as the change is preceded by rational and reasonable debate and discussion from ALL parties.

I am the first to admit that the DNP has alienated me to a large degree by ignoring (or flatly refusing to listen to) party members who share my views on morals and ethics, while demanding my support for policies and platforms that out-right contradict my personal views. My saving grace here isn't the Party itself, but the American system of democratic process, which allows me to exercise my free will in any general election, regardless of affiliation or registration.

But, to repeat what I have said numerous times, the GOP shares a level of hypocrisy with the DNP. To scream "less taxes", but to spend beyond our means in specific areas of government each and every administration since Hoover is as silly as anything the Dems are shouting, isn't it? Is there really a difference if an administration puts the government in the "red" with programs like Head Start or Food Stamps and one that does the same with programs like the ill-fated B-1 or a non-functioning fence along the US-Mexican border? For every Republican President that you can name in the 20th Century that was STRONG on defense, I can find one that was WEAK (and Bush/Cheney is at the top of that list, believe me)... and the same can be said for CICs from the other side of the AISLE (that's for Jambo). Clinton neglected the military, but FDR fought tooth and nail against Republicans to BUILD a real military from the ashes that Hoover left him... with every bit as real a threat on the horizon as Clinton should have seen looming.

While I understand Ryan's position on social justice from the Government's point of view, I still feel that the Federal Government of as vast and viable an economic and ethical society as the USA DOES have a responsibility toward the welfare of all its citizens, regardless of means and ability. This responsibility grows in areas that would "free" citizens from actual or perceived handicaps due to regional, racial, economical or physical restraints... i.e. EDUCATION. That any high school graduate needs to determine the course of his or her post-secondary education based solely on the cost of higher education is criminal in my eyes. In this land, built on the premise of "opportunity for all", the fact that a family or individual needs to enroll their University-qualified student in a local technical college because they make too much to qualify for grants but not enough to pay the $65,000 a year that Penn State, UW Madison or Ole Miss is charging PER YEAR is unconscionable. The single, largest factor in US success economically, militarily, politically and socially over the last 50 years is the level of education this nation provides at a collegiate level. We are losing that edge, and rapidly.

So, no change in voter registration for me yet... but you can still hope, I guess.