Letter to Conservatives

[ysabetwordsmith]

I was intrigued by this "Letter to Conservatives" post. It points out the value of constructive criticism -- of which there is not much, amidst all the idle name-calling and thumb-sitting.

People seemed determined to obliterate awareness that the giant mess we are in now developed during a long Republican reign. Well, it's the mess we have to clean up now. Anyone who doesn't like the President's ideas for fixing it is invited to propose and alternate plan. Preferably I would like to see everybody's plans, including the President's, for fixing problems tested out on a small scale to make sure they actually work. Then they can be implemented on a wider scale. We've seen way too much smoke-and-mirrors act.

Blockading the government is not helping. Griping from the sidelines is not helping. Trying to make someone else fail because you don't like him -- and you're willing to hurt the country and everyone in it, as long as you can drag your hated nemesis through the mud -- is definitely not helping. You want to impress people, try doing something that actually works. It's pretty rare these days; it'll get attention.

Comments

[wolfbrotherjoe.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Well, I have to admit, I had an automatic negative response to that letter right from the get-go, because I'm tired of the people going, "I was tired of being ruled by fear so I let my fear rule me into voting for Obama."

The 'mess we are in now' has been developing for *decades*, during both Republican and Democrat 'reigns', and can't be planted solely on the shoulders of one or the other. There's been plenty of ridiculous decisions on both sides.

But one thing I rather find annoying is that there *are* alternatives out there. Since Obama started, Republicans have been presenting alternative plans for economic stimulus, they've been presenting alternative plans for health care reform, they've been presenting all sorts of alternatives left and right.

Of course, with Democrats in charge of both the executive and legislative branches, their alternatives usually get filed in the bin.

There's a certain problem with small-scale vs. large-scale implementation: There's plenty of stuff that works small-scale, such as in a specific city or in a specific state - that doesn't work on a national level. There's stuff that works in tiny countries that don't work in large countries. One big reason is that people are different in different places, there are different laws, there are different cultures.

Additionally, the comment on 'Trying to make someone else fail because you don't like him -- and you're willing to hurt the country and everyone in it, as long as you can drag your hated nemesis through the mud -- is definitely not helping' - This describes the previous 8 years. While it certainly describes many conservatives now, quite well, I've heard a lot more conservatives going, "I don't want to do what Democrats were doing to Bush" in the past few months than I heard solidarity from liberals in the previous 8 years.

Even more, it's *still* being followed by Democrats. Refusing to consider Republican ideas or plans or alternatives because they just want Republicans to fail and fail horribly, no matter what the 'right thing to do' is.

I agree with a lot of the sentiment in that letter - I've expressed lots of it, myself. But it's filled with hate and anger and partisanship. That needs to be expressed to *everyone*, it needs to be expressed to the people of the other side as well as the people of your own side, or else it just comes off as yet another rant that's targeted not at the theoretical 'recipient' - in this case, Conservatives - but really is targeted at getting lauded by those who agree with you politically.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry if you interpreted my letter as a rant against conservatives. That wasn't my intention. In hindsight I should have titled it letter to everyone, because what I was writing to everyone.

Don't forget though, that post 9/11 Bush enjoyed ridiculously high approval rating and had a Congress that basicly rubber stamped his decisions. Remember the Patriot Act? Any conservative who favors small government should be revolted by that law and how much it infringes on individual rights. That was passed within a month of 9/11 and we were in Afghanistan before November of that year.

Do you think Obama would be able to do the same now?

I look forward to discussing politics with you again.

-Golden Arple
www.goldenarple.com

[wolfbrotherjoe.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly understand writing one thing and someone else reading another. My apologies for misunderstanding.

I completely agree that Bush and the Republican congress immediately post-9/11 was a horrible rejection of conservative policies, and was everything that conservatives complain about, and was very hostile to personal freedoms.