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Hog House Blog turns me on to some sabertooth-rattling from Steve Sibson, who starts his post protesting the potential use of eminent domain for the Transcanada pipeline (I'm with you there, pal) and ends up floating a trial balloon for his own candidacy for the State Legislature.
It sounds like Sibson is suffering from the same sort of disenchantment with the "Country Club Republicans" that led me to switch parties. If you're really serious, Steve, about checking the executive branch and challenging (if not replacing) the ruling elite, might I suggest joining us Dems? You might find it easier to oppose the party in charge of the state if you were actually in the opposition party. You might have to spend a little less time parroting Fox News, but you'll get to spend more time on real issues (making South Dakota's tax system more progressive, increasing education funding, promoting local economy) that will have practical positive impacts on the lives of all South Dakotans.
Of course, if joining the Dems is too much to swallow, there's no rush. I think we Dems can find a few good men and women next year to carry the banner of true populist opposition to the country club elites.
Drinking Liberally Update (11/15/2024)
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In Politics: Nationally: The Election is over and the wrong side won. I
have nothing to contribute to the barrels of ink being used by Pundits to
explain a...
3 days ago
I wouldn't mind being a Libertarian, but it seems most of those folks are fall too much into the tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists for me.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm going to stick with being an independent. I don't have to explain my positions... or defend myself on being either a "knuckle-dragging Neanderthal Republican" or a "Godless, hedonistic Democrat"...
I always wanted a T-shirt made up that says... "I'm Independent; No One Tells Me How to Think!"
I take offense at the jab that Republicans are country club elites. I am definitely a conservative Republican. I am also defintely NOT a country club elite, and I believe most conservatives are not country club elites. We are just conservatives and thus identify with the Repubican party instead of the Democrat party.
ReplyDeleteIf only Republican Party were truly, consistently conservative. No Child Left Behind is radically unconservative, expanding federal power over education, intruding on a realm better left in state and local hands both in principle and in practice, yet Governor Rounds embraces it. Global laissez-faire capitalism uproots the archetypically fundamental values of family and social cohesion, yet Republicans balk at putting limits on the actions of their big corporate friends to protect those other values.
ReplyDeleteSteve Sibson and I both see a GOP that fails to fight consistently for the conservative values we hold dear. Often that failure comes when the GOP abandons its alleged principles in favor of legislation that benefits certain special interests, usually wealthy special interests. Sibson himself, a registered Republican, uses the term "Country Club Republicans" to describe this unprincipled and all-too-influential faction of your party. Sibson wants to steer his party more in the direction of conservatism as the media define it. I left the party and joined the Democrats because they hold positions that, while labeled "liberal" in the media and popular mind, actually promote conserving things I value, such as community, family, and natural resources.
Thomas Frank offers a related thesis in his well-known 2004 book What's the Matter with Kansas? He says the social conservatives of the GOP use hot-button issues like gay marriage and abortion to win the votes of working-class folks but then fail to vote like economic conservatives. See the Wikipedia article on Frank's book (an article seemingly written by a conservative critic of the book!).