The Royal Rumble in Washington DC

I may never become a professional op-ed writer if I keep comparing modern day politics to pro-wrestling but I can’t help it when they make so damn easy.

There are two schools of thought on our two major political parties. One is that both parties are very different and can never reconcile their differences, as their fundamental core belief systems are so vastly different. Republicans want a smaller government, they want to uphold traditional values and provide for a strong defense (in theory). Democrats want to build upon the New Deal creating a wealth of social service programs with the aim of ending poverty, extend the boundaries of cultural relativism under the guise of civil liberties and utilize an internationalist approach to foreign affairs (in theory). The problem here is that like men and women since the sexual revolution, both parties are suffering from gender role confusion.

First and more obvious is the Democratic Party. There is a rift in the party that may end up driving it further and further out of power. This rift is most actualized in the separation of camps between the Dean-Kerry-Kennedy/Progressive wing of the party and the Clinton/Centrist-New Democrat wing. Essentially this split comes out of ideology conflicting with election strategy. As Karl Rove said recently, “we are a center-right country” and apparently the Clinton’s are savvy enough to know how to reach voters and win elections (how they behave once in office is a whole other matter). Meanwhile, there’s an entire other half of the party that is clinging to their progressive roots with all their might and will not suffer an inch of compromise. These are the Moveon.org folks who just stormed the gates of the DNC palace like virtual Bolsheviks and demanded that the face of the party resemble the philosophy of the party: enter Howard Dean.

Howard Dean has just been elected to be the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He recently stated that, “What I was trying to get across is that democrats, in order to win, have to stand up for what we believe. We are never going to win if we try to pretend we're half republican all the time. The republicans have claimed democrats are pro-abortion. That couldn't be further from the truth. I don't know anybody that's pro-abortion. I do know democrats think women should make up their own mind about what kind of health care they get.” (Credit tv.ksl.com)

Howard Dean is attempting to re-brand the party as fiscally conservative and socially progressive, which if promoted effectively, that message will find an audience willing to listen. He is also attempting to emulate the organizational skills of the Republicans for the purposes of contesting elections in states less likely to vote for a Democratic candidates and thus restore the party to their lost seats of power.

Dean, who was quoted as saying he “hates” Republicans, has paid special attention to how Newt Gingrich and company took control of Washington. Newsmax.com reports, “This past week, U.S. News and World Report's ‘Washington Whispers’ noted that Dean ‘admires Newt Gingrich more than he does Bill Clinton.’ ” Dean also said that Gingrich, “created a real success for the right wing…Clinton, meanwhile, led the Dems into complacency and defeat.” Indeed the battle lines have been drawn and the players are moving into position.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush his running around the White House singing Madonna’s “Material Girl.” This man has the nerve to refer to himself as fiscal conservative. That would be true if by conservative he means recklessly negligent on spending. Now I’m not referring to the money spent on Iraq, Afghanistan or other clandestine anti-terror efforts, which I think is money well spent. I’m referring to his asinine domestic spending programs. One such doozey is his decision to increase spending on abstinence-only programs. Despite recent studies showing the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education, President Bush proposes to increase funding for said abstinence-only education programs by $39 million, to $193 million. The increase in funds is more than 50 percent since 2004.

Another grand scheme is his marriage initiative. According to Womensenews.com, “The Bush administration proposes to spend almost $2 billion of scarce welfare funds over the next six years promoting marriage. Our total federal welfare budget is less than $17 billion per year, the same amount it was in 1996. In February, the House passed H.R. 4, a welfare reauthorization bill that diverts funds from basic economic supports such as job training and childcare into experimental marriage-promotion programs. Currently, the bill is under consideration by the Senate.”

According to the Cato Institute, “a libertarian research institution, says overall federal spending has increased twice as fast under Mr. Bush as under Mr. Clinton. At the same time, the federal deficit is projected to hit a record high of $427 billion this year.”

This is not small government by any definition that I know of. This is social engineering, which is big in Iran but is not much tolerated by those of us living in the land of the free. This is also fiscal irresponsibility and you know you’ve gone off the deep when even the Cato Institute is admonishing a Republican.

This is what I mean when I say that both party’s roles and underlying philosophies are confused. The Democrats think they are Republicans and George W. Bush thinks that selling our country, via floating debt, to China is good, sound, fiscal policy. However, gender confusion is only half the story in the Washington rumble.

As stated above, there are two schools of thought on our most prominent national political parties. The other school of thought is that both parties are actually the same, with their agendas being to maintain the status quo both in seats of power and on Wall Street.

One example of this dubious, incestuous nature of Washington politics is a story in the Washington Post. They write that, “There's been K Street chatter, our colleague Jeffrey H. Birnbaum tells us, that (Joe) Lieberman (D – CN) could be on an administration list to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the next year or so.

That would be convenient for Lieberman, whose term is up in 2006, and could give Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) an opportunity to appoint a Republican to the seat for at least a few months before the election, inching the GOP closer to a filibuster-proof Senate.”

What a mixed up mix this all is. The Dems are split and fighting amongst themselves and it won’t be long before potential Republican candidates start vying for position concerning the 2008 presidential election. Indeed you will see backstabbing, dirty tricks, betrayals, double-dealing and the sort of dramatic intrigue that used to make Oliver Stone movies watch-able. It would almost be wild fun to watch if we, liberals and conservatives alike, didn’t suffer from our depraved and toxic system.

"Democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the others." Sir Winston Churchill