What is Shirley? Here's my suggestion ...

At Delaware Curmudgeon, after having changed her voter registration to Republican to cast a ballot for Ron Paul, Shirley wonders where she belongs on the current political party map:

I think I have finally realized that my anathema towards organized parties in general got the better of me. I just cannot fit neatly into one party’s agenda and do not have the patience to argue for or against the particulars of a platform.

I am not gay, but I support gay rights. I do not smoke pot nor am I a prostitute, but I support the decriminalization of both activities. I loathe abortion, but support freedom of choice. I believe strongly in the principles of the Constitution. I watch in horror at the rise of the nanny state. I favor a minimalist government, and probably most forcefully I demand accountability in government both fiscally and ethically. Other than that, I just want to be left alone....

I would lean towards a Republican due to fiscal issues, but that assumption has become blurred in the past, and I no longer trust all so-called Republicans to live up to the traditional ideas of fiscal conservatism, so it will all depend on who is remaining after the primaries. I will make my decision then.

A few years back we would have had a category for people like Shirley: we called them Americans.

Comments

a most peculiar nature said…

A true compliment. Thank you.

February 28, 2008 at 5:53 AM

Anonymous said…

Steve, can you think of a VIABLE alternative party for people like Shirley?

February 28, 2008 at 9:07 AM

A Libertarian Martin Luther King Jr. Day post

In which we travel into interesting waters . . . (for a fairly long trip, so be prepared) Dr. King's 1968 book, Where do we go from here: chaos or community? , is profound in that it criticizes anti-poverty programs for their piecemeal approach, as John Schlosberg of the Center for a Stateless Society [C4SS] observes: King noted that the antipoverty programs of the time “proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils,” with separate programs each dedicated to individual issues such as education and housing. Though in his view “none of these remedies in itself is unsound,” they “all have a fatal disadvantage” of being “piecemeal,” with their implementation having “fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies” or been “entangled in bureaucratic stalling.” The result is that “fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.” Such single-issue approaches also have “another common failing — ...

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba...

A reply to Salon's R. J. Eskrow, and his 11 stupid questions about Libertarians

Posts here have been in short supply as I have been living life and trying to get a campaign off the ground. But "11 questions to see if Libertarians are hypocrites" by R. J. Eskrow, picked up at Salon , was just so freaking lame that I spent half an hour answering them. In the end (but I'll leave it to your judgment), it is not that Libertarians or Libertarian theory looks hypocritical, but that the best that can be said for Mr. Eskrow is that he doesn't have the faintest clue what he's talking about. That's ok, because even ill-informed attacks by people like this make an important point: Libertarian ideas (as opposed to Conservative ideas, which are completely different) are making a comeback as the dynamic counterpoint to "politics as usual," and so every hack you can imagine must be dragged out to refute them. Ergo: Mr. Eskrow's 11 questions, with answers: 1. Are unions, political parties, elections, and ...

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