As the ship of state is being righted, I am adrift in a lifeboat ..........

[Stinky The Clown]

When I was a much younger man, I was curious. I explored liberalism (the philosophy of my parents) and conservatism. I read a good bit of material from the John Birch Society. I liked Barry Goldwater. Of course, I also read a good deal of lefty stuff and liked a lot of lefties, but I mention the right wing stuff just to show how far out there I was looking.

The older I got, the more I lost respect for right wing philosophy. It just seemed to me to be selfish and wrong headed.

So it seemed fair to assume I became more liberal.

But did I?

It kinda seems to me that I'm the same guy I always was. Yeah, some specific positions have evolved, but I cherish individual rights - as I always have. I care passionately about my fellow man - as I always have. I believe no man is less a man than I - as I always have; I hasten to add that use of the word "man" is not intended to be gender specific - an amplification I always felt the need to make. I care about my country such that I volunteered to serve, even as others waitied for consrciption - and would do it again today if, it seemed to me, the need was real. The things I care about and find myself willing to fight for have, for me, always been just about what they are today.

But what it appears has actually happened is that the country moved right while I stayed the same. In the 60s of my youth, liberal was cool. It was mainstream. My peers were liberals. It seemed, then, the way of the future.

Today, it seems, I am more liberal only as a relative term. What's happened is that the whole country has moved to the right. Painfully so. The candidates we get to vote for are pretty conservative by my standards.

That's true this cycle, in 06, in 04, in 02, in 00 ............ and earlier than that.

Sure, I liked most of them. Some more than others. Some were/are real disappointments with respect to their ..... I love what they call it today .......... "centrism".

Fuck centrism.

Centrism, it seems to me, is a substitute for principle.

Look at Mario Cuomo. An unabashed LIBERAL. A consistent LIBERAL.

The rest of the big names of the day ...... not so much.

And yet, they get cheered. I can hear it off there ..... just over the horizon.

Yeah ...... the ship of state is veering right. And it seems like a party is going on as it happens. Catered by the true Powers That Be. And here I sit, becalmed and adrift in my own little lifeboat.

Its lonely here.

[MercutioATC]

1. Unfortunately, we have a popular vote in this country...

...and the candidate with more "centrist" views (on either side) has the greater chance of being elected. It's not a matter, IMO, of anybody veering right...it's a dumbed-down population to whom extremes are scary.

If we were voting for "Emperor of the Liberals", your point would be well-taken. There are a lot of centrist votes we need to gain the White House, however.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. You know ......

.... one of these days I'm going to steal your little bug.

Would it work as a screen saver?

[MercutioATC]

3. No idea, but feel free to steal it.

Then both of us can get the comments :)