In recent weeks, we have seen several states make strides towards equality for gay and lesbian Americans. Jeff Cook, a former staff person at the national office of Log Cabin and currently working with the New York state chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, has done a good job of letting people know of the brave Republicans that stood up for civil rights. You can read his posts on victories in Vermont, Iowa , Connecticut and Delaware. The GOP has a pretty sorry history when it comes to gay rights....

There is a lot to be said about the whole Obama-taking-over-the-American-auto-industry line, but the thing that has been bothering me for months is how Republicans have dealt with the current situation, which is to say, they have dealt with it by acting rather boorish. Now, I know some liberal wags will say that this is the only way that Republicans know how to act, but that is not necessarily so. Listening to this recent comments like this one from Kevin Hassett and the recent glee from some conservatives...

When it comes to economics and money matters, I understand it…to a point. My partner is the better person when it comes to money. But I will give it a go when it comes to the following issue. I work for a non-profit, actually one and a half: I work part time as a pastor at a church and full time as a webmaster for a the administrative body of a mainline Protestant denomination. Non-profits and churches are at the mercy of the goodness of people. A church stays open because people give offerings...

Megan McArdle has a great post about the whole AIG bonus debacle. What we are starting to learn is that things are not what they seem. According to the popular rhetoric, the people getting these bonuses are the same ones that got us into this mess. But the reality is less clear. McArdle links to this letter op-ed letter from one person who received these bonuses. Before you start throwing tomatoes, you might want to hear him out: It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from...

Every so often, I will be posting links to posts I tend to brand as “alternacon,” stuff that you don’t normally hear from conservatives. Conservatism has a wider reach than the stuff peddled by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter and I would like to point them out and pass them along. So here is the first update: Geoffrey Kabaservice (who has written a series of wonderful articles on moderates in the GOP) has written a profile on the former Republican California Senator Thomas Kuchel....

Jim McGrody, a blogger from Texas, has put together a possible platform for Republicans as they enter the 2010 midterms. It’s called simply, “2010 Republicans.” Here is what he says: What does it mean to be a 2010 Republican? One often hears the expression, “Strong on defense, fiscally conservative and socially moderate”. Although this is the essence of the answer it does not go far enough to allow the shaping of public policy. We do hear a lot about being fiscally conservative...

Ross Douthat has a good post today about Obama and the Center-Left. He notes that conservatives were happy with some of the Clintonite picks he made in the cabinet. However, as policy started coming out, those same conservatives (myself included) were not as happy. So what happened? Douthat posed three solutions and it is the third one that makes the most sense: But there’s a third answer as well – which is that the smart center-left, embodied by Larry Summers as much as anyone,...

A few weeks ago, I did something that seems a bit anachronistic in this digital age. I got a subscription to the local newspaper in town: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. I don’t always agree with the paper’s editorial page, but I did it to make a point of the importance of newspapers and because I’ve loved newspapers since I was a little kid. I remember way back in the 70s, looking forward to getting the Detroit Free Press. My parents only got the Sunday edition, but I loved reading...

This post over at Conventional Folly was a bit annoying at first blush, but then made sense: I went and listened to the on-air debate between David Frum and Mark Levin at the urging of Massie and Sullivan, and I came away with the surprising conclusion that Levin definitely got the best of Frum (all use of the mute button aside). I think that’s because Frum is not acknowledging a sad fact: the dearth of charismatic political leaders on the right means that Levin’s incessant digs about relevance,...

I should have known better. For those of you who have been following me, most of you know that I grudingly voted for Obama last November. It was a ticket-splitting vote: voted for Obama and then voted GOP down the line. I noted that I was going to cast my vote with some trepidation: While I am supporting Obama, it is with trepidation. I worry that once in office he will veer too far to the Left, pleasing the Democratic base. I can only hope that with so much support from independents and Republicans,...

I grew up in Michigan, about sixty miles from the Canadian border. Our local cable system offered (and still does) the closest Canadian television station: Channel 9, a CBC affiliate in Windsor, Ontario. Beginning in high school and through college and even today, whenever I am home in Michigan, I turned on the CBC to catch their two nightly news programs: The National and The Journal. (I especially loved the Journal with the late Barbara Frum, the mother of conservative writer David Frum.) It...

It’s interesting that other conservatives are now realizing what I’ve known for about 15 years: that Rush Limbaugh is a windbag that is more concerned about boosting his ratings than he is about trying to rebuild the GOP. But now, that conservatives and liberals are chatting about the rotund radio announcer, I am left wondering something: Why Does Rush Matter? Why have so many bloggers spent so much time writing about this guy? Yes, I know that he seems to hold a big sway over a...

Every so often, I have heard conservative Republican operatives talk about how the GOP has an inroad to persons of color because in many of those communities, there is strong opposition to gay marriage. Since there hasn’t been a flood of black people to the GOP based on their stance on gay marriage, I have always found that argument bogus if not bigoted. Being someone who is African American (and gay to boot) I’ve always believed that most African Americans are concerned with bread...

I don’t try to assume that I know everything when it comes to politics: I’m just some guy with a laptop likes to run at the mouth or keyboard. But in looking at the GOP in the weeks since Barack Obama became President and since the Democrats have taken power,I see three options for how Republicans can go forward in this new time. I will say straight up that I have a bias in one of these options. But all of them will be looked at with the good sides and the bad sides as well.

David Frum has an excellent essay on the “Goldwater Myth.” He explains the myth this way: In 1964, after years of watered down politics, Republicans turned to a true conservative, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Yes, Goldwater lost badly. But in losing, he bequeathed conservatives a national organization – and a new champion, Ronald Reagan. Goldwater’s defeat opened the way to Reagan’s ultimate triumph and the conservative ascendancy of the 1980s and 1990s. This (the myth continues)...

I think the future of the Republican Party lies in the states. It will be the governors leading the way. There is one governor out there that I do think represents the future of the GOP if party leaders are wise enough to listen. No, I am not talking about Bobby Jindal. I am talking about Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who is a conservative that actually lives and works outside the conservative cocoon. From an interview in Politico, here is his take on the stimulus: It’s easy to criticize the...

A few years ago, I went to a local car dealer to purchase a car. It was a slightly used Volkswagen Jetta diesel. I loved the car. I ended up purchasing the car on a six-year loan. (Yes, I said six years.) At the time I was working in a call center and part time in a church. I knew in my mind the church job was shaky, but I didn’t think about it. A month later, I lost that church job, thereby making my salary tighter. Then, a year after I got the car, I lost my other job. Through sheer...

Every so often, I have been part of a “discussion” on race. Every time I hear this, I start to shudder, because I know where this is all leading and how it will end. We all get together and there are a few speakers. A black person will talk about how unfair life has been for them and a white person will talk about their white privilege. The African Americans (and other persons of color) in attendance, are made to feel bad about their lot in life and the things they have to put up...

It’s not a big shock to anyone that the GOP is in the middle of an identity crisis. After straying from its fiscally conservative roots and losing two national elections in a row, there is a lot of talk about how the GOP should go forward. Some suggest “going back to our roots” which means a method that will please the so-called base. The other is to be willing to be more appealing to a changing America, to tack to the center instead of the far right. Anyone who has followed...

Now that the Stimulus Package passed by Congress will be signed into law by President Obama tomorrow, I have a few thoughts I wanted to share from my perspective as a Republican and not just a run-of-the-mill Republican, but a moderate Republican, or so-called “RINO.” My initial thoughts aren’t good. I understand and accept the need for a larger role for the government right now. I also think there needs to be something done to jump start the economy. But I don’t think...

Shortly after the November elections, I received a message on Facebook to join a group called Progressive Republicans. I was interested and started to get to know Travis Johnson, the 30-something behind this endeavor. This enterprise is still in its early stages, but Travis has done a lot to get things off the ground. Travis put together list of common principles that sets out the mission of this strange beast called a Progressive Republican. This is what the preamble states: We are Republicans....

“Bipartisan” has become the word of the day in political life. Actually, I don’t think its hold has ever left us. There is something among Americans that we want to see people put aside partisan differences and work together. Presidential candidates love to talk about how they will come to Washington and create a new environment where people will work together and things will get done. When George W. Bush became President in 2001, he talked about being a “uniter, not a...

The following graph has been getting a lot of play on the web. It was put out by the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi: As you can see, it shows that in comparison to the two most recent recessions, we have lost a bunch of jobs. The graph has “focused the mind” of some bloggers like Andrew Sullivan: This graph sure does concentrate the mind and reveals, to my mind, the surrealism of the current GOP. They spent the last eight years spending like FDR in a boom and now they’re born...

Let me start out by saying that probably no one will read this blog post. Why do I say that? Because it’s about telling my fellow moderate Republicans to stop whining about the state of the party, acting like little kids holding their breath until the party bosses listen to them is something that people don’t want to hear. People would much rather me complain about how radical the party has become. For some reason, blog posts and op-eds with disenchanted Republicans bemoaning the...

There has been much news about Michael Steele’s ascension to the Chairmanship of the GOP. As the first African American to head the party, there is a hope that the GOP can reach out to African Americans. Over the last few decades, the GOP has not been known for being forward thinking when it comes to civil rights. But there was a time when the GOP was the party that recieved the lion’s share of African American votes and also took the lead in granting civil rights for African Americans. In...