MY FAVORITE COLOR IS PURPLE…NO, REALLY.

Coming up in a family and a circle of friends who are staunch democrats is really no big deal until you are old enough to vote. I found this out in both 2000 and 2004 when I made it known that I voted for George W. Bush to become President of the United States. I got my fair share of, "“Are you nuts?", but my personal favorite was, You just helped ruin America.” No one thought less of me, but I found the absolute hatred for man who is the leader of our country to be a funny thing. What a man that some of these people had never heard of until January of 1999 could have done that made them sure the world would end if he took office was vexing to me. I think I know now…

Taking sides in a political debate is awesome. The problem I have come to find more and more in this country is that we lose true political debate because people are more inclined to chose party instead of choosing sides on issues. Just look to Washington and you will see what I mean. Take Judge Alito’s nomination process. That thing was almost cut to precision down party lines. The same goes for everything from domestic wiretaps, to taxes and the Marriage Amendment. It is all so partisan that nothing really is getting done up there. It has took them way to long to reinstate the Patriot Act. Because of partisan garbage Americans were given an absolutely atrocious Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. And don’t forget the lame filibustering of judicial and other presidential appointments.

The reason this really gets to me is that I don’t really think that America is like that. Organizations take polls that show the country is split 50/50 Republican and Democrat. That isn’t really a fair way to go about it. With so many different issues out there it only makes sense that when presented with two parties half the people will gravitate either one way or the other. Just think if people voted on issues instead of lawmakers. I know it isn’t really practical, but I really wonder if this would help get rid of partisanship a little bit.

Take me for example. I voted for a Republican president. I did it mostly for economic reasons. I agree with probably 90% of the Presidents moves on this side of things.Does that make me a Republican? I say no, but there is a metric ton of folks who would say it does. Let’s look at some other key domestic planks in the GOP platform and how I jive with it.


1.For Gay Marriage-(Me Yes/GOP no)
2.For Stem Cell Research-(Me Yes/GOP no)
3.Lower Taxes for All-(Me Yes/GOP Yes)
4.Pro-Choice-(Me Yes/GOP no)

As you can see, I rank pretty poor as a Republican domesticly. I will admit that while I wish things were going better in Iraq I support the Presidents efforts. The problem I see is that while I agree with administration on enough things to vote for them, I still feel cheated as a citizen because there is no voice in Washington for someone like me. Am I a moderate democrat or moderate republican? According to radio hosts like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh there is no such thing. How can that be?!? It just can't.

Even though we know it can’t, there is nothing we can do because of the two party system. If you want some real republican cash you better not go around announcing your pro-choice beliefs. Same goes for the democrat asking for lower taxes(for even the rich). As long as the money flows through these two spheres the true majority of Americans will never be heard because we are just not left or right enough. What can we do? I am not sure yet, but we cant give up.