Policy and Practice

I gave up on Republicans a while ago. Simply because of their policies. But Republicans do not apologize for who they are, what they want/believe in, and they are willing to go to the mattresses to accomplish their stated goals. Regardless of policy/platform/issues, every political party should behave like this. There are different points of view in this country. All of those views are, to the extent possible, represented by two political parties. If one of those parties fights tooth and nail for its issues and the other acquiesces and tries to play nice and get along with everyone, only one party's set of views gets well represented.

My real dislike of Democrats in Washington is not with policy but practice, their unique ability to cave to any Republican pressure, despite overwhelming public opinion against Republicans, is laughable, lamentable, and downright depressing. I voted for Obama, but he gets very little slack from me. If he doesn't get this country out of the rabbit hole--and fast--I'll be ready for some new leadership. I won't vote Republican because their views are just too often wrong, but if voting for Democrats doesn't actually mean anything, then I will "throw my vote away" on third party candidates and write-ins in future elections.

(I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. From kos at Daily Kos:

1. Republicans ask for the absurd, threaten nuclear/economic armageddon if there's no action.

2. Democrats cower in fear.

3. We try to talk some sense into them.

4. We get scolded for being unserious, and wanting the terrorists to win/people to lose their jobs.

5. Democrats promise oversight!

6. We roll our eyes.

7. Democrats cave on every single point, but pretend to win anyway.

8. We wonder what we ever did to deserve this sorry bunch of representatives.

9. Republicans do whatever the hell they want.

10. Democrats pretend that no one could've ever predicted Republican outrages and express "outrage". Sometimes, they even write a sternly worded letter!

11. We make "no one could have foreseen" jokes and wonder what we ever did to deserve this sorry bunch of representatives.

12. Rinse, lather, repeat.

...

Both parties suck, but one does it with their stated ideology and the other does it by being too damn weak to stand up.