Voters Without A Party

By Number Six

Saturday, November 05, 2005 at 05:51 AM

As I mentioned a few sessions back, quite a few friends and associates are what I deem "Ike Republicans", and yes, happy they ain't...

Which is understandable.

One dear friend, who still refuses to get off his tail and publish his comments is among such: Although he's registered as a Repub, his track record indicates he's more liberal than many wish he was. He's far from alone in this.

Another surrendered years ago, back when the local party was overrun by the Jaysus Borg. He left and still doesn't have a place to call home.

And neither of them, along with many other "conservatives" of my acquaintance is even remotely happy with the current state of affairs, to say the least.

"They need a new name.", one commented over brews, "They are not Republicans, not what we used to stand for!"

Such as?

A balanced budget, for one. I seem to recall that was a staple some 50,000,000 eons gone by. Not so anymore: If Ronnie Raygun could put the entire DC budget on Amex, well, why can't Chimpie, Frist and Delay? Tends to explain why the last president left us with a pretty big chip, and why the current dullard has us teetering towards Chapter 11. Spend-n-spend.

A strong military. No gripes here, I reply, I'm all for that. If we must fight, I want our kids to own warp nacelles, phasers and teleporters. It kills me to hear "no armoring", poor support and yes, no VA benefits. No arguments there, ace.

But, all that said, I find myself in the same boat, maybe not the same section: A registered Democrat, I'm having real worries about my party. With the rare and treasured exceptions of Spratt, Clyburn, Pelosi, Boxer and of course, Jedi Master Conyers, the rest, well, if they found a way off this planet, I'd not miss them all that much: They tend to resemble the "other" party a little too much for my liking, thank you.

To that, I find myself sipping Coors along with these conservatives: Who speaketh for us? Who stands up for our say so, our wishes, our wants and our needs? Not the Party Of Cashflow, obviously, I don't have the necessary 6.7 billion to purchase me and you some legislators.

We all find this stunning, me and those sitting around quaffing our Coors and seething at our elected who seem to resemble more a Three Stooges marathon than effective governing. A massive deficit, a war nobody believes can be won, and as of late, playing a game called the-bill-collector-is-going-to-have-to-wait.

Which is why I do not support the idea of Mdm Hillary running for Prez: She let me and millions of others down hard back in the day when she and her old man had this deal going about fixing health care. Sure got fixed! I just know some CEO of some pharmaceutical firm now drives a Rolls thanks to me and my medical needs, eh? Thanks, Hillary, love ya, don't mean it.

But, there's some hope out there. I just discovered one of our own is running for office in her own region. A real progressive at that. I just wish we could clone her a few thousand times, as our dear old donkey sure needs some new and fire-driven blood.

And, me, I just met with some friends of my own local party. We've all decided we are going to have play mean and lean coming up, like it or not. We'll see what works.

There's hope. Let's push those throttles forward, get this bird taxied out and ready to fly, shall we?