Funny stuff. Its astonishing that the Democrats are self-emmolating in front of the nation (Harry Reid supposedly just accused some high ranking generals of incompetance and declared the surge a failure- while the last boots are just hitting the ground) and i cant gin up any enthusiasm for the Republicans in the least.

There just needs to be a wholesale movement to get fresh faces in Washington. All the Gingrich Republicans are either corrupt, co-opted, dead, or run out of town (Kasich was one of the few who saw the writing on the wall and left in disgust before lying down with the pigs for too long). Even the guys fighting the earmarks and corruption just seem like opportunists.

The problem with being a small government congressperson is that its impossible to do for any length of time. Cant we demolish the Capitol Building and cyber legislate, so at least the voters can have a hope of keeping a leash on these people?

If the voters actually paid attention to anything but bumper sticker sloganeering, things would change.

Lets face it, the voting populace for the most part are immensely ignorant of the issues at hand. They garner most of their information from horrid local news reports, or card reading news anchors on the major networks who boil down complex issues like Social Security into a 2 minute vignette that doesn't even begin to touch the issue with any substance. Our major papers basically reprint press releases and refuse to actually do anything close to fact checking.

Don't get me started on the poor quality of our members of Congress. One need only look at the Congressional Black Caucus to see a cesspool of corruption that goes unchecked because of the color of its members. Then of course there is the apparent fact that nearly every member of Congress is on the take from one lobbying group or another.

We need term limits, and we need them now. The founders never once envisioned life long dynasties where members served their entire adult lives sitting in office. The Kennedys, Rangels, Byrds, Stevensens, Lotts, etc. all need to be shoved from office and now. In fact we I would prefer drawing names from a hat of legal citizens over our current situation any day. At least I wouldn't have to worry if they were on the take from day one.

1 Term Limit and a part-time salary commiserate with a three month session.

Forget outsourcing, try unsourcing.

Require a 100% review of Government agencies and functions by outside efficiency auditors for redundant functions and operations.

Establish a BRAC commission to eliminate duplicate services and underperforming agencies.

Force a reduction in Government agencies by 25%. Scrap zero value added agencies. Institute a mandatory 10% reduction per year until Federal spending is reduced by 50%.

Mandate a formal results and relevancy review for any new government function or department created in last 50 years.

Don't exempt Dept of Homeland Security, in fact start there. More pork there than your average Southern BBQ.

Our poitical leadership perfectly reflects the bloat, corruption and inefficiencies of our Government as a whole. We can't hope to fix one without fixing the other.

Earmarxism is only the tip of the iceberg.

Term limits will not solve the problem. Trust me, all term limits will do is move the power in the Presidency, the courts and the lobbyists, especially the later.

The Presidency has term limits, then why not Congress? I dont see how it will "move the power", can you cite an example?

Term limits have turned the Florida Legislature into a body completely composed of hand-picked legislators owned by the lobbyists. There is almost no competition for occupied seats, every challenger waits until the current occupant is term limited and the seat opens.

Trust me, term limits are fool's gold. The best way to choose representatives would be like impaneling a jury. Let's just randomly pick people from each district like a lottery.

Average Joe or Jane would beat the crooks hands down.

It's unforunate that Republicans respond to stress by shrinking their bubble instead of increasing it. I guess that's par for the course these days.

Again, people pile on Dem's in AL's 'why is the party broken?' posts, but only a few want to investigate Republican fallings? I think it's unfortunate, you got to fix your own house before you start tearing down somebody else's.

I think it would be good for democrats and good for debate (and the country in general) to have a reformed Republican party. Unfortunately, I'm not really sure who is in charge of republicans right now. With Delay gone, and the party distancing itself from George W., I'm not sure who is left to lead the party to greener pastures.

On the flip side, blogs may have their best chance to raise enthusiasm for a clean, good-intentioned RNC leader.

alchemist, I don't know that this post actively solicited fix-up suggestions for the Republican party like Armed Liberal's post did for Liberals or Democrats. I'm sure the floor would open for suggestions on spending, immigration and corruption.

As for my part, I would suggest that the Republicans have broadened their base on some less popular social issues with a critique of judicial activism and a call for state primacy on divisive issues. This strategy is greatly undermined by calls for litmus tests on social issues to oppose candidates that otherwise hold the same views on the roles of judges and states.

alchemist, I think the reason you don't see much debate about what's wrong with the Repubs is because it's pretty obvious.

Us 'pubs don't have any doubts about our philisophical underpinnings, go read Reagans speeches and the 94 Contract with America to get the modern gist of things. Which you undoubtedly already know all about, which is my point.

The Republican problem isn't ideology, it's competence. We know what we elected them for. They know what they were elected for. They just ain't doing it.

As for fixing that problem? New blood is needed, but their isn't much showing up yet. Losing one election has helped a bit, but not enough... There's a LOT of grassroots anger amongst conservatives, but nothing to focus it. The much dreaded Christian Coalition would've been useful here, but after achieving it's major goals in '94, rather than just quietly fade away they, like most professional advocacy groups, kept chasing increasingly irrelavant issues until, now, all that's left is a handful of professional political hacks (Dobson etc) with no credibility.

I think a lot might've jumped across to the democrats, except the democrats keep talking.

Dunno, keeps things exciting, all that base dissatisfaction can crystalize in a hurry if some interesting leader(s) show up.

I'm not sure there's an American who posts at Winds of Change who's dedicated to (and concerned about) the Republican Party the way Armed Liberal is about the Democratic Party.

Generally being conservative is not the same as being committed to a political party.

Also, the Republican Party appears to have split into a numerous, powerless Popular Wing and a wealthy, incumbent Privilege Wing represented by Senator Trent Lott.

The Privilege Wing is doing as it pleases, no matter how offensive or injurious that is to the Popular Wing. And even smashing electoral defeats as in the last election are not teaching it anything.

What the Popular Wing, as represented by the sort of conservatives who blog at Winds of Change, have to say to Trent Lott is: "in the name of God, go!" They have already said it.

With deaf power on one side and people who want to replace those in power rather than make further vain appeals to them on the other side, what's to say?

#6 from Steve: "Term limits have turned the Florida Legislature into a body completely composed of hand-picked legislators owned by the lobbyists. There is almost no competition for occupied seats, every challenger waits until the current occupant is term limited and the seat opens."

Trust me, term limits are fool's gold."

Thanks for that information Steve. I didn't know that.

I would add: if you want a "Yes, Minister" system, where public servants run things as they please, and by the time a politician wises up to how he's being played for a fool he's also out of office, term limits and security for senior government bureaucrats can help you get there.

#6 from Steve: "The best way to choose representatives would be like impaneling a jury. Let's just randomly pick people from each district like a lottery.

Average Joe or Jane would beat the crooks hands down."

There's a political philosopher here at the University of Sydney (maybe - I'm not sure it he's still around) who argues very seriously that that's the way to go. He had problems with questions on "how can you ever set the system up?" Maybe you can't get there from here. He had no problem dealing with objections on the theme "but aren't normal democratic arrangements better?" Juries are far from perfect, but the systems we have now seem to be even less perfect.

Peggy Noonan is worth reading.

Too bad. (link)

President Bush has stopped leading the mass of the Republican Party, and is currently trying to beat it. That is a confusing situation for people who pride themselves on loyalty.

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The Trouble With Loyalty (link)

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A Cure for Political Depression (link)

"I think many of us would agree both parties seem like exhausted little volcanoes, and that they are driven more by hunger than belief."

...

"Republicans should take heart from his [Reagan's] memory but not be sunk in him or spooked by him. Life moves."

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The Man Who Wasn't There (link)

This, on Fred Thompson's candidacy, is very much to the point.

"But Mr. Thompson's challenges are real, too. He'll have to show he's serious--that he's in it for big reasons and in it to the end. He'll have to knock down the "low energy, gadfly, hops from thing to thing" charge, which has persisted so long that one assumes there's something in it. He'll have to show he's not just a rote, pro forma conservative--a dumb conservative--but someone who knows times change, horizons shift. He has to show he has run something, or can run something. Romney ran a state, Giuliani a city. Mr. Thompson has run what--a career? Big whoop."

"Most importantly for him, and for all the Republican candidates for that matter, Mr. Thompson will have to answer this question: What is he running to do? Why should the Republicans get another eight years, or four years, after all the missteps they've made? Isn't conservatism, or Republicanism, or whatever you call it, just tired? Isn't it over? Isn't America just waiting for whatever will take its place?"

"Why shouldn't liberalism get a shot? Could they mess up more? Why should we trust Republicans with foreign affairs?"

"If Fred Thompson can answer these questions, he'll be showing he's something new, and not just the newest candidate, or the latest face."

#7 from alchemist: "Again, people pile on Dem's in AL's 'why is the party broken?' posts, but only a few want to investigate Republican fallings? I think it's unfortunate, you got to fix your own house before you start tearing down somebody else's."

Joe used to be Canadian. It wasn't his house. I will always be Australian, and could never be anything else.

I do think that Armed Liberal is falling foul of something he himself said though. On America, he said love needs to criticize, but not too much. And he said some of the left was routinely going in for corrosive criticism, which he though was a bad, bad, damaging form of parental behavior. I agree with that. Nobody should love a political party the way they love their country, so the comparison is not exact, but loosely it could be said that the hard left slams America too often and with not enough pauses for ballyhoo and affectionate boosting, and Armed Liberal is perhaps on the way to a habit of criticizing the Democratic Party without enough pauses to reflect with affection of what it does right.

(And no, "I will always be a Democrat, because look at Trent Lott" does not count.)

After the "What's left?" series winds up, if no warm notes or new ideas emerge to mix with the criticism, then I think time may be right to call Armed Liberal on that. Persistently if need be.

But not for me, because I'm not a Democrat, or an American.

I believe we have a lot in common, we people of one civilization in different states, but that only goes so far. It's not fair, it's not reasonable, to expect Americans to accept some things from any foreigner, just as there are criticisms of Australia I would not relish from any foreigner, not even an American. There's a line that should not be crossed over. And I'm aware that I've sometimes trodden on that line, and my intention is not to go further. If I ever do, it was a goof.

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#7 from alchemist: "I think it would be good for democrats and good for debate (and the country in general) to have a reformed Republican party. Unfortunately, I'm not really sure who is in charge of republicans right now."

Neither is Peggy Noonan.

#7 from alchemist: "With Delay gone, and the party distancing itself from George W., I'm not sure who is left to lead the party to greener pastures."

Peggy wonders too.

#7 from alchemist: "On the flip side, blogs may have their best chance to raise enthusiasm for a clean, good-intentioned RNC leader."

#9 from Treefrog: "Dunno, keeps things exciting, all that base dissatisfaction can crystalize in a hurry if some interesting leader(s) show up."

Sometimes it becomes surprisingly obvious how much we all have in common, and how workable it is for us all to reach out to each other and try to see the other guy's point of view.

#10 from David Blue at 8:59 am on Jun 16, 2007

Though I haven't posted many times here, I have repeatedly identified myself as a conservative and railed against the co/opting of the conservative agenda by the Neo-Cons who I see as a particularly vacuous, ignorant and dangerous sect. Six months ago, I posted that the most important battle to be waged in this country in the near future was the battle for the control of the Republican party. I am firmly on the side of those who want to purge the Neo/Cons.

I am increasingly perturbed by a political discussion that consists of the buzz words "Liberal" and "Conservative". The use of these two words serve only as an excuse not to think, stifle intelligent debate and generally add to the culture of ignorance that has been disseminated by the media of all political stripes.

The Right in this country has to take a good look at itself, it is looking more and more like the Left in terms of brainless when approaching issues with each passing day.

One place we might start is by forgetting about calls for a pardon for Scooter Libby and letting our judicial system deal with a convicted perjurer and stop wasting our time on calling for a pardon. It is not only wrong, it is counterproductive.