It’s a frightening thing what Republicans call moderate these days. Take Senator John McCain, for example. He votes in favor of legalizing torture and revoking habeas corpus. He’s for giving special tax loopholes to the rick. He thought going to war in Iraq was a great idea. He gives Jerry Falwell a hug and a kiss. All that, and McCain claims that he’s moderate. Sorry, no, not buying it, call your next customer.
You want to know what a real moderate Republican candidate for President looks like? Look at Michael Smith. Smith is running for President with the following issues on the platform:
Abortion: “Abortion essentially hinges on an issue of belief, and matters of belief should not be managed by the government.”
Creationism: “Creationism and Intelligent Design both rest on belief in some un-testable, unproven cognizant force guiding the development of life. Beliefs don’t belong in science class, at least not within a publicly funded curriculum.”
Death With Dignity: “Death with Dignity (aka Assisted Suicide), with appropriate procedural safeguards, has been approved by the voters of Oregon and should be respected as a matter of States’ Rights and as an issue of Separation of Church & State.”
Flag Burning: “Freedom of speech is one of the liberties that has been zealously protected. I served in the Air Force during the time of the Gulf War to protect the constitutional guarantee of free speech, including flag burning. Flag burning is an extreme, offensive form of free speech, but I defend it as a viable expression.”
The Religious Right: “A theocracy, even if it’s a theocracy based on your beliefs, is a dangerous thing. When the theocracy starts to dictate science, write laws, and apply religious doctrine to government, oppression is inevitable. Our country was built by thousands of immigrants seeking religious freedoms. Let’s honor the Pilgrims, the Protestants, the Jews, and even the Unitarians by keeping religious doctrine out of our governmental processes.”
Hm. Even the Unitarians?
I don’t agree with a lot of what Michael Smith has to say. He is, for example, a skeptic of global warming in a time when the evidence for global warming is overwhelming. He’s for a flat tax, which I think is a good way to let high income Americans and corporations off the hook. Still, a lot of what Smith has to say is reasonable.
Michael Smith is what a real moderate Republican candidate for President looks like. John McCain is a phony, a right winger. He just drools in public less often than George W. Bush. We can do better than that.
About jclifford
A senior writer for Irregular Times. Formerly an antiaquarian speech pathologist.
Thanks for the kind words. I take your point on global warming and have become more and more swayed by the weight of the evidence.
It was a recent lecture on “intelligent design†that drove the point home for me. There will always be “scientists†who dissent on evolution or the specifics of natural selection, but they are in the minority. Likewise, we may not know all there is to know about global climate systems and there may be room to dispute specific data or interpretations. But it seems clear that greenhouse gases are rising significantly, that ice caps and glaciers are melting measurably, and that normal climate patterns are trending away from recent averages. We may not fully understand all the causal relationships, but the scientists who reject all concerns because we don’t understand the entirety of the system, are in the minority.
I’ll concede that majority or minority doesn’t make right or wrong, but responsible government must act on the best available data. It’s time for our government to start taking prudent steps to address this issue.
I’m very much a believer in free markets, but free markets tend to not capture the cost of the “externalities†like pollution. I like Al Gore’s recent proposal to tax business CO2 emissions rather than payrolls. Ideas like this need to be a part of the debate.
Michael Smith, Republican Candidate for President
“Even Unitarians.” Seems you included everyone but Muslims -and Catholics. Reminds me of Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” where the heavy says everyone is OK – “except the Irish.”