Ralph Peters Quits the Fight

Have you seen the latest from Ralph Peters? He has a article in the New York Post concerning the up-coming elections. He thinks it time to clean house of the Republicans and he hopes that the Dems win one side of the congress. Now just how stupid is that. If you were camping in the mountains and you knew that there were grizzles in the area would you camp without protection or maybe take along a rubber knife to frighten the bears with?

Ridiculous? Maybe. But no matter how ineffective the Republicans are, allowing the Democrats to take control of congress is madness given how screwed up the world is today.

Ralph Peters has always been a good read. He, more often then not, is able to pin point the problems that we face with great clarity. But this latest foray into the political arena has left me completely speechless, or wordless, as the case my be.

Ralph Peters has derailed somewhere along the way. I can no longer regard him as a reliable source of good information.

HOUSE CLEANING

By RALPH PETERS October 14, 2006 --

IT'S time to get a grip. And to be honest with ourselves. The fear-mongering and juvenile nastiness we, the people, endure from both political parties would have us believe that disaster looms in November. It doesn't. You, the voters, are going to make your individual choices based upon your private beliefs. And our country is going to be better for it.

The Republicans are going to get a dose of castor oil. They need it. If we, the people, are lucky, the Dems will take the House, while the Republicans will hold on to a majority in the Senate. That split-decision would be good news for America. Why? Despite the predictions of doom from both sides if we don't vote for the candidates selected by their party hacks (who think you and I are just chumps), our government functions best when one party controls the House and the other holds the Senate. Why? Power corrupts. Fast. When either party - it doesn't matter which one - controls both houses of Congress, we get two very bad results. First, the party in power becomes arrogant and exclusive. Second, half of our population feels it doesn't have a voice in government.

The result is polarization of the sort we suffer now. Extremist voices are too influential in both parties and the rest of us - in the vast center - are treated as irrelevant. When either party controls everything, it ignores the wishes of the majority. A monopoly of power isn't democracy. And we don't get efficient legislation. It seems counter-intuitive, but we're more apt to get gridlock on Capitol Hill when one party rules. The laws and amendments proposed grow too extreme as special interests become overbearing. The Bolsheviks bully the Mensheviks. And it all breaks down.

We must have the integrity to recognize that our democracy is based upon compromise. Nobody gets everything they want. If anyone did, it would be very bad for this country. It would be unfortunate if the Dems captured both houses of Congress. But even Republicans should hope they get the House. Why? For all of the reasons cited above - and one more: For six years, the Dems have had a free ride, criticizing everything while accepting responsibility for nothing; with control of the House, they'd have to get serious at last. Let's see Nancy Pelosi & Co. offer serious legislation instead of sound-bites. Show us what the donkey can do when it has to stop braying and shoulder a burden. If the Dems fail to take the House, 2008 is going to be much, much tougher for the GOP.

Given responsibility, the Dems are apt to expose themselves as dilettantes on security and foreign policy - they're experienced at attacking Bush, but let's see them take on Iran, North Korea, terrorism, Chinese currency manipulation, Putin, Chavez and, not least, Iraq. Oh, and Castro's dying. If the Dems have better ideas, let's see 'em. If they don't, they'll pay in 2008. Personally, I'm with the Dems on most domestic issues. They appear hopelessly inane on security affairs - which trump everything else just now - but on women's rights, a living wage, the environment (why on earth aren't conservatives for conservation?), the pursuit of alternative fuels and just about everything but security matters, the Dems better represent the views of the average American than the far-right's social absolutists.

Let's face it: Both parties are corrupt, dishonest, arrogant, hypocritical, intellectually vacuous and utterly unconcerned with the fate of the average American - you. Think you or your kids matter one bit to Howard Dean or Karl Rove? Meanwhile, the big-money, over-organized nature of our contemporary system prevents the emergence of the viable third party we so desperately need. For now, the best that we, the people, can do is to make sure that neither party sweeps the table.

All law-abiding Americans should feel represented in our government. A compromise law that fully satisfies no one is always better than a law that panders to a small, rabid faction on either the left or right. The party faithful on both sides will reject these arguments. But our country's more important than either party. Wouldn't America be better off if every parasite living off the election-campaign circus were to disappear tomorrow? Why should we, the people, suffer the tyranny of mediocre, un-elected men and women whose selfish agendas so rarely reflect our needs?

The men and women in uniform who died for this country across the last 23 decades didn't give their lives so that we could vote straight party lines. Party lines are for communists, fascists and fools. Neither party is ever 100 percent right. It's our duty - our duty - to our country to vote for the best man or woman, not just for the candidate the backroom boys shoved at us. Don't vote for the Democratic or Republican party in November. Vote for individuals. Vote on the issues. Vote for what you really believe. Vote for the common good. Vote for America.