What I would give for Republicans to just be plain old conservatives again

[nytemare]

This stuff going on now has a different name. What happened to people who just believed that government should be hands off. How did the party of Lincoln turn into the party of the "Nuclear Option"??

[Charlie Brown]

1. small government, less spending, strong nat'l defense, etc.

that's what I always heard the Republican Party was supposed to be about. What the hell happened?

[LittleClarkie]

3. Ideological conservatism turned out to be just as expensive

as ideological liberalism.

Now I think the Dems are almost becoming like the old Conservatives. I hear them call out more for fiscal restraint than I do the Repubs in Congress. And the Dems are right when they say that this administration's idea of national security is a joke. They seem to think you can get off on the cheap.

Hell, man, I'd take back Nixon over these guys. At least he was for health care and diplomacy. My freeper friend calls him a pussy. That's good enough for me. Bring back CREEP!

[patricia92243]

7. Actually, that is an interesting point. I, too, would rather have Nixon

rather than the current occupant of the WH. (If we HAD to have a Republican).

Of course what I'd REALLY like to have is Dr. Dean in the WH. :)

[FreedomAngel82]

11. I'd rather have the paranoid man

instead of a psycho man. :crazy: Of course as long as there was checks and balances with the paranoid man. I wonder if Nixon had what Bush has now if he would've been a psycho man.

[nytemare]

10. Really Clinton did a lot of that

National defense was a tad lackluster, but the diplomacy made that easier to deal with. Eisenhower recognized the military industrial complex, and he feared it. It seems we are now becoming a sort of industrial fascism, sort of lead by military industry, but not stopping there.

Now we have a bigger, hands on, reckless spending government. It is corporate welfare, and the corporations have lower taxes, so they don't need the welfare.

[LittleClarkie]

2. There are some disenfranchised Repubs who I bet agree with you

I bet. Plain old Conservatives who want their damn party back.

[etherealtruth]

4. This bunch makes Ronald Reagan and company ...

...look a lot less frightening, they make Nixon look sane and reasonable---and liberal.

[politicaholic]

6. They make the 'arms for hostages' deal look patriotic...

George Bush Sr. should have been tarred and feathered for that one, instead, he was elected president. That's how stupid most republicans really are.

[etherealtruth]

9. The sad part is that by the election of Bush act one...

..."they" were rewarded for criminal behavior and they became emboldened.

[More Than A Feeling]

5. It happened because they stopped being honest about their goals

Rather than kill programs and shrink government, they chose to cut taxes first, and hope that the resulting deficits would kill programs for them. What they found was that because they hadn't done the hard political work of preparing the american people for program cuts, they had no support to rebalance the budget. Now government is running away with them as they try desperately to hide and brush off what cuts they can make while expanding entitlements still further.

At the same time, they have made people hate taxes, except for defense. So when they need money for security, it has to go to the military, which is their sole definition of defense. More can't go to other forms of security because then it will look to their followers like they are taking the money and not doing anything with it.

Just something to consider.

[Cleita]

8. I would like the Democrats to go back to being social

liberals. I have an idea. Let's get the DLC to break away from the Democratic Party and recruit all the disgruntled Republicans who realize their party has been hijacked. Then we can go back to being the Democrats of fifty years ago and the DLC, which is a mirror of the Republican Party fifty years ago anyway, can take over conservative politics. The theo-neo-cons can then fade into the woodwork where they belong, small, stupid and unnoticed, but there to remind so that we never forget who they are or what they have done.

[Stirk]

12. Remember when Buchanan was the extremist?

Now he's one of the moderates. I never would've thought it possible.

[nytemare]

13. In some instances, he seems to have his head on straight

He admitted in 2000 he should not have gotten as many votes as he did in PB county, his magazine actually endorsed Kerry, saying that * could be a big blow to conservatism. There are many things I disagree with him on, but yes, he does seem much less extreme than before. And he does seem honest, at least.

[Snotcicles]

14. The key word ( and thats all that matters) is

Option.
It was NEVER an option before.
But if you say it enough they grow accustom to it and it becomes an alternative.

[nytemare]

20. That is sad. The stronger word is "nuclear"

no winners. Not a very good option.

[mmonk]

15. Life used to be simple

[nytemare]

18. LOL, I don't know about that

I think they are trying to make it too simple, now. It seems they are trying to take all colors and change them to black or white.

[LondonAmerican]

16. that's what a lot of paleocons and libertarians would like as well

there's been a big movement away from bushco among paleos and liberttarians. just read lewrockwell.com (which supported first Dean and then Kerry in 04), antiwar.com, etc.

[nytemare]

19. I might check those out!

I can understand a lot of the libertarian views on things. I do believe we need Social Security and welfare, but I think spending should be controlled and be prudent, and that it should go to who needs it, not who doesn't need it, like the rich who are getting the money through these tax cuts.

[Zorra]

17. *snarf* Republicans and conservatives have always been pieces of shit.

They have been trying to destroy this country ever since 1776 (of course they weren't called republicans then). They almost succeeded in the late 1700's but Jefferson saved us that time, and again in 1929 but FDR came along and pulled us out of the Great Depression.

Hoover, Nixon, Reagan, the Bush's, were/are all fascist, corporatist scum dedicated to destroying America for corporate power and profit: Don't EVER be fooled into some idealized RNC induced illusion that republicans and conservatives were ever anything but enemies of the US and freedom. Their actions speak for themselves throughout our history.

And now, with the neocons in office, the republican party may finally be able realize the culmination it's long term unspoken dream: the permanent destruction of the US.