Incoherent Sunday ramblings ...

I was going to write about the TyGirlz dolls “controversy” but I’ll save that for another day. (Needless to say I think the whole thing is ridiculous …)

In today’s LA Times, former Congressman Mickey Edwards (or am I supposed to call him a congressperson?) published an opinion piece titled “Reagan wouldn't recognize this GOP.” The article is here if you are interested.

I didn’t recognize Edwards’ name, so being the astute writer I am, I Googled him. He served as Oklahoma’s 5th District congressman from January 1977 to January 1993. His education includes an undergrad degree in journalism and a J.D.

Anyway, it got me to thinking. Would Reagan be shocked at what’s happened to us? Why is it that our political party is thought of as the party of “exclusion, division and nastiness.” The article also describes the GOP as “not a conservative party, it is a party built on the blind and narrow pursuit of power.”

Personally, I think that phrase better describes liberals. When there is a president in office carping “I won” during a working discussion with congressional leaders regarding the president’s proposed economic stimulus plan, you should know we are in trouble.

So who are “we” excluding anyway? Is the problem with the GOP that first and foremost we embrace the concept of personal accountability and that government in any size is not the teat that nourishes us? Why does history seem to forget that the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and that a Democrat, FDR, was the knee-jerk reactive idiot who implemented Executive Order 9066 which locked up Japanese Americans in internment camps after Pearl Harbor? Okay, so maybe Lincoln is “ancient history” in our here and now-oriented society, but there are people who lived through the “War Relocation Camps” who are still with us. We’d like to think that couldn’t happen today, but Democrats of course also believe that government is infallible and wants to take care of us.

I attended a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of Reagan’s Civil Liberties Act of 1988 this past summer. You’d think that many of those Japanese Americans in attendance would be members of the GOP or at least not broadcast their affiliation. Of course when the usual Bay Area political personalities (including the Democratic senator from the area and a certain former Secretary of Transportation) started talking about the opportunity we all had in electing a black president, the room erupted in cheers. Electing a black president was an opportunity? Never mind no one had any idea where this candidate stood on issues of interest to Japanese Americans (or any Americans for that matter)—his “blackness” was just too good to pass up.

Anyway, to a point I agree with Mickey Edwards in that Reagan would not recognize the GOP today. The party has lost its spine. It used to be unafraid to stand up and take a position on issues. Among my biggest pet peeves is the failure to secure the southern border. I honestly believe that most Americans want the border secure, period. But you have each party pointing the finger at the other, those evil rich Republican businesspeople like that nice cheap illegal Mexican labor, and those kumbaya Democrats want more Democrats, so certainly they cannot offend an entire group of people by not letting them pass freely into the U.S.

And why is it that whenever an article regarding crimes by illegal aliens pops up in the SF Chronicle, an overwhelming majority of comments are for securing the borders and in favor of deportation?

Are people ashamed to admit to conservative leanings, because in today’s “we’ve got to include everyone” mentality, it’s unfashionable to think of America first?

And why is it that if a Republican does the right thing by civil rights or looking at the bigger picture (for example, working to keep terrorists out of our country and protecting ourselves from extremists via Bush’s war on terrorism), everyone seems to forget? As I recall, the biggest opponents of civil rights in the 1960s were southern Democrats … how soon they forget! Have we already forgotten Clinton’s laughable response to the bombing of the USS Cole?

I sure hope that the individuals who claim to be members of the GOP are able to remember just what they are supposed to stand for. I’m not against compromise but I sure am against just rolling over and doing nothing just to remain in office …

I am somewhat incoherent today due to sleep deprivation. My back hurts like hell and of course the comp carrier didn’t contact me on Thursday like promised… I was nice and gave State Fund the benefit of a doubt and didn’t get on the phone Friday, but you can bet I will tomorrow. I guess in their eyes it’s okay for me to be locked up at home, eating 8 double-strength vicodin a day, even though I find that taking so much medication is not a good thing to do … I guess it wasn’t such a good idea to stay up late last night to watch the NASCAR race from Irwindale last night. Yes, I admit it. I did watch a NASCAR race. I used to be a much bigger fan until my favorite driver, Bill Elliott, cut back on his racing. My daughter and I watched because she is long-time friends with one of the guys who was in two of last night’s races. His name is Auggie Vidovich, and despite his talent as a driver, he can’t get a full-time ride because he’s not marketable because of his last name … it’s just not American enough. Blech!