On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 06:49:34 -0700, "Brian David Smith" <smsc@cox.net>
wrote:

What has happened to my party? I am a Republican, a Reagan Republican. I
realize Ronald Reagan was no saint, but he was a responsible individual
because he held fast to his belief system. I once said, "True enough, Ronald
Reagan stuck to his guns. The difference between him and other politicians
was his choice of guns." The point is, he held himself to a higher standard
than other politicians. He chose his battles with prudence. He knew he
couldn't win every issue, so he put his muscle behind conservative issues
where he could do the electorate the most good. Unlike today where
politicians put their efforts behind issues that can do themselves the most
good.

Additionally look at the ethical perspective of my party. It is horrid. For
example, Newt Gingrich, toppled from House Speaker because he was dirty.
Here locally in San Diego, the press has discovered Congressman Randy
Cunningham essentially accepted a $500,000 payoff from a contractor.
Cunningham is leaving office because of that. Trent Lott, he exposed his
dirty underside. His loose tongue revealed his true colors as a racist
bigot. That cost Lott the Senate majority leader post.

Now we have Tom Delay in the headlines again. Four times the ethics
committee pulled this man on the carpet because his hands were dirty. Don't
you think after the first time the man would have learned not to be caught
the second, third and forth times? Apparently not. Delay has the wrong
concept of honorable and rightfulness. He believes the game is to see what
you can get away with, as opposed to living a clean and honorable life. In
other words, Delay feels if no one catches him at it, then all is fair game,
no matter whether it is legitimate or not. He stretches the envelope to the
extremes. He disparages the spirit of law. We have laws to give us
guidelines to stay within the bounds, not to straddle the edge of the law.
Additionally he says he has lawyers review all of his actions. Who's
lawyers? His lawyers? A lawyer will tell you anything you want, it only
depends on how much you pay them.

Look at the overall Republican Party. It is my party, yes, but its
performance is embarrassing. My party is in control of both houses in
Congress and it has control of the Whitehouse. What has been the outcome?
Here is just a partial list: a) there has been no solution to the Social
Security issue. b) Even four years after a devastating terrorist's attack,
this country is not ready for a disaster. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved
that. Even today, a week after Rita, there are still those in Texas that are
needful fresh drinking water and food. c) George Bush recently signed a pork
belly bill into law that gives Alaska a $240 million bridge nearly the same
length as the Golden Gate. However, it is a bridge to nowhere. It connects
an island, which only has 50 inhabitants. d) The American consumer is under
attack. Three and four dollar gasoline is going to drive consumer prices sky
high, which will reflect in reduced retail sales. e) The republican
president has a needless and expensive "personal agenda" war in Iraq that he
is losing. f) Tom Delay had to step down as majority leader and likely, the
Senate leader, Bill Frist, will suffer damage from an apparent lack of
judgment regarding an investment. g) Money rules the government, not the
electorate.

Most likely, the last reason from above is the largest of all the problems.
MONEY! No longer do members of Congress go to Washington DC to represent the
electorate. No, instead they get into office and serve the whims and wishes
of special interest groups and highly financed lobbyists. There is a rule in
Washington DC called the Golden Rule. "Those who have the gold, make the
rules!" It cannot be better said. You vote these people into office, yet who
gets their attention first? The lobbyists with the deepest pockets. Simply,
it is all corruption. It starts in the Oval office and works its way down to
dogcatcher. It begins with appointments granted to unqualified opportunists
and snakes its way right up to billion dollar non-compete contracts to
favored companies. This is no longer the United States of America, for the
people, by the people. This is the United States of the Dollar, for the
political opportunist, by the political opportunist.

It is time for lawful government wide reform, a total house cleaning! Outlaw
lobbyists, special interests groups, power grubbing politicians, and fortune
seekers. We need law technicians, not highly paid lawyer-politicians. We
need fair and equal prudence regarding the distribution of governmental
funds and resources. We need a government that is truly functional and
horizontally transparent, as opposed to a corrupt, opaque bureaucratic
quagmire, which fails miserably to serve the citizenry in time of need.


Brian David Smith, San Diego, California
A Reagan Republican disappointed in the Bush Administration
http://www.briandsmith.com


True enough, Ronald Reagan stuck to his guns. The difference between him and
other politicians was his choice of guns. --- Brian David Smith, June 12,
2004 ---

- Copyright ©1995-2005 Brian David Smith, San Diego, CA. - All Rights
Reserved

A "Michael Brown" for the highest court in the land:

Harriet Miers has never been a judge. Has she at least run a horse
association?

"If he [Bush] wants to give her judicial experience why doesn't he
nominate her to the Fifth Circuit (Court of Appeals)?" - John Eastman
of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont
Institute

"She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she
had ever met." - National Review's David Frum