Velociworld

LET'S RESURRECT THE WHIG PARTY

I read a lot of people disgruntled with the two party system as it's currently contrived. I share that frustration. I will readily admit I vote Republican most of the time, but that's because they are the less odious of the two parties. I have no hard-on for the GOP. Hell, they invaded and burned my state to the ground. Since I am constrained to live in the here-and-now, however, I generally hold my nose and pull the R.

I cannot vote for a Democrat because that party as I knew it is dead. Always an uneasy cobbling of special interests, the Dems have become so venal in the last ten years they are simply fucking shameless. They will whore any position, assume any posture, corrupt any ideal, promulgate any lie for a vote. For the reins. Prostitutes on a spectacular scale. Actually, johns, with your money in their wallets. They lined up like lemmings behind Clinton and vowed Saddam Hussein was Satan Incarnate, ready to lob biological weapons and chemical bombs at the nearest target. In 1998 the Democratic Party was steadfast in their mantra that SADDAM MUST GO. A few impeachment votes later, all was forgotten. And they will look you in the eye today and swear they never said it.

I DO respect the GOP for their commitment to the war on terror, and their understanding that this war must be fought now. Having said that, I believe the Saudis have Bush's pecker in their pocket, and until they are dealt with this war will not be won. I also resent Bush's cave-in on the domestic front. From steel tariffs to the Kennedy education bill to the absolute refusal to deal with the illegal immigration/border security issue, W has demonstrated an avuncular grasp of the pandering required to seal the deal. He's never used his veto, and signed every profligate bill the Republican Congress, drunk with power, has lobbed at him.

So let's resurrect the Whig Party. Not the Afghan Whigs, although they rock, and would be a great "house band" for the movement, should they regroup for the cause.

Let's face it: the Libertarians, like Perot's Reform Party, have some good ideas, but are awash in screwheads and loose cannons and isolationist bigotry. The Whigs, now, had some good ideas. You'd have to bring it into the 21st Century, for sure. I don't think a Free Soil platform would carry much weight now, nor do I think the Compromise of 1850 is going to stir the masses. But think:

1) Federalism and States' Rights. Not those states' rights. Not code words for boiling the Mandingo. The real deal: 10th Amendment Empowerment. A commitment to rolling back the grasp of the federal bureaucracy. Really, this time.

2) National Economic Platform: The Whigs pioneered using the collective economic might of the combined states to forge progress and change. I'm down with that, because it funds:

3) Strong National Defense. And the cajones to project that might where applicable. Regime change, destroying terror masters, and all that entails.

4) A little leavening of small "l" libertarianism. The kind that doesn't play ostrich, and coddle the anti-globalists. Stick to politics and let the social agenda work itself out. The GOP gets hijacked off the agenda all the time by the religious right. I, personally, think the religious right has far less influence on the national GOP than is popularly believed, but they do have a way of derailing the agenda, and providing fodder to the media. Robertson and Falwell are shrieking insane baboons. And while they don't have the blood on their hands Al Sharpton does, they're nonetheless gadflys one could do without.

The Whigs. Conservative, libertarian, and secular. I'm signing up.