The Way Forward

As I talk to my good friend who happens to be a Conservative to my Moderate I hear frustration, worry for the country, concern for the future of his kids. I feel the same feelings. If we two who disagree on many issues can have the same feelings of concern and worry one must realize that there is a path forward. Those who share the same worries should be able to work toward an answer.



At some point both Liberals and Conservatives have to realize that digging in and refusing to work together is not acceptable. Not all will get this message. Republicans have a real worry in this example. With the tea party in place it is likely that many Republicans that compromise will face a challenge on the right. I do not have an answer for this except to say that progress in some form of a grand bargain might well be the only remedy.

Lets look at some realities. Women make up fifty four percent of the electorate. America is not pro abortion. A great percentage of people do feel that it should be limited and concerning. Still candidates getting caught up in the abortion in the case of rape arguments are stupid. This issue is decided. If you want to stand on that principle I respect you, but you should not expect to be elected. And if you have a moralistic feeling against abortion in all cases try this for an answer. Don't talk about women's bodies and biology. Just say that I hate rape. It is awful. My spiritual beliefs however believe life is life. I simply cannot advocate abortion in any case. Period. If you do not try to justify your position in some legalese stupidity you will not lose as many votes. It is these weasel words which keeps it as an issue. Just state your opinion, do not fudge it, and move on.

The fiscal cliff. The Bush Tax Cuts need to be repealed for the wealthiest Americans. Republicans can no longer continue to stake there futures on millionaires and billionaires.

In terms of a large scale proposal for our budget we must understand that depending on who you speak to the Dems agreed to at least five dollars in spending cuts for every dollar in revenue raised. The Republicans would not agree to this. There has to be some level of sanity in this.

Defense needs to be cut. It is currently a jobs program for military hardware makers and profiteers like Haliburtion. Our soldiers are the greatest in the world. We cannot afford a military the size that we have and we do not need one.


Obamacare is the law of the land and it is not going anywhere. I am not a fan. For me thought my feeling is that every tear that you see an insurance company executive crying is a crocodile one. The mandate requiring citizens, which will be predominantly young, healthy, people to get coverage will bring them many healthy payers of premiums.

Republicans are never so hypocritical as they are on Obamacare. One can be against the plan if they wish but when they choose to make the individual mandate the main sticking point it is ridiculous. The individual mandate was the idea of Republicans for solving the health care issue as early as the nineties. The party of individual responsibility, once the President signed onto their mandate idea, an idea he originally did not favor, suddenly thought the mandate was the worst idea in the world. In terms of loss of credibility there has been nothing so diminishing to the Republican cause as their flip flop on the mandate issue. It showed them at their basest level.

Those on the right would be wise to just move on from that issue.

Social Securty can be fixed. It is not unfix-able. There are issues but any thought of privatization is not going to work and will not pass. All we really need to do is change a few numbers in the formulas such as Ronald Reagan did in the nineteen eighties and we can buy another thirty or forty years and the fact is once the baby boomers start dieing in thirty or forty years the formulas will come back into line.

Medicare is another story. It has a problem. Obamacare will not solve it. The fact is I do not know of an answer until you go to single payer. We are not there yet. Obamacare however with it's focus on preventive care could help the numbers around the edges.

Jobs. Economy. Mitt Romney was right. We need to be serious about China and their currency manipulation. We need to realize that any trade war with China will be easily won by us and we need to have it now before they get stronger. I do not expect anyone to do that. When it comes to issues of trade and the economy I am a populist and I never seem to understand why my point does not make sense.

We need to solve immigration. If the Republican party cannot find a way to control it's jingoistic, fear mongering and fear feeling wing they will become a non entity.

It will not be easy, but we should never forget that the silent majority always exists in America, and with that, we always have a chance to succeed.