Thursday, January 24, 2013

Post Inauguration Thoughts

I've had a lot on my mind recently in regards to the state of politics in this country. Ok, let's be honest, I always have that on my mind. As I was driving home from Florida, Monday, I had time to collect some thoughts as President Obama was inaugurated into office for his second term.

I often think my opinion is not the popular one, but then I realize lots of people relate to me. As I mentioned on facebook Monday, I never like to be labeled anything for that matter, but definitely not another anti-Obama person. Let's get one thing clear, because of my beliefs politically, I am not a Barack Obama supporter. I never have been. BUT, let's also get one thing clear as well, the problem in this country for a long time has been status quo politics. We have politicians who claim to be fiscally conservative like Paul Ryan, who is nothing short of a moderate. Ryan is about the furthest you can be from being a fiscal conservative.

I was a fan of George Bush, the person, not George Bush the President. Many Obama supporters are obviously not Bush fans or fans of the GOP party altogether, and rightfully justified in most instances, but if we take away the Obama name, he is hardly different than Bush. Their foreign policies are the same, they are both big spenders. Obama claims, or at least claimed to be anti-war back in 2008, but he's hardly that. Obama tried to extend the war in Iraq, wanting to keep thousands of troops there passed the proposed deadline, which was set in place already by... yep you guessed it, Bush.

I imagine if Obama was a republican, most in this country would be chastising him for supporting NDAA, Patriot Act, TARP Bailouts, and don't even get me started on the drone strikes in Yemen and Libya or the whole Benghazi ordeal.

Four reasons why Obama was reelected:

1) Ignorance by his policies
2) The U.S. is becomming more socially liberal
3) Too many in this country are dependent on government handouts
4) Mitt Romney was the LAST choice of many in the GOP

Social issues are important to most people, and I consider them important as well, but to vote for a president solely based on the fact that he has come out in support of gay marriage is, well pretty dumb if you think about it. Obama is not going to somehow legalize gay marriage. It is a state by state issue. And further more, why do people not realize he has pandered to the LGBT community to get their votes. A presient's personal view on gay marriage is pretty much irrelevant. I understand that most in the gay community feel like they have a voice with a president supporting this, but in reality, he can't do anything because it's a state issue.

The republican party is seen by most as backward, because of some of the comments made by Todd Akin and others regarding abortion. The GOP is also seen as anti-science and anti-gay. This is why they are failing to attract the youth vote.

As I have said before, the GOP must embrace libertarianism, and libertarian-minded republicans if they want to change their party's platform. For a die hard conservative, you have to realize if you support a libertairan candidate, you're not giving up your socially conservative values, you just have to realize the government has no place enforcing morality. The GOP should want to limit government overall.

Grassroots activists did not support Romney, and he was the last candidate they would have chosen. If the GOP wants to win, they have to have the support of these individuals who will get out, knock on doors, put up yard signs, make phone calls, etc. The GOP must also not continue to shun libertarians, particularly at national conventions like we saw this past year in Tampa. If the GOP continues to elect more "fiscal moderates" because they think they are more electable, the GOP will continue to spiral downward.

Lastly, I thought I would post a YouTube video that clears up some of the confusion most have about libertarians. Julie Borowski is a policy analyst for FreedomWorks, and is one of my favorite libertarians.