Knotty Contemplations...

I received an email from a blog buddy the other day telling me about his new blog, "Knotty Contemplations..."  I decided to check it out and was quite impressed.  I had always enjoyed his other blogs, and I am really enjoying his new blog.  He wrote saying that, "Recently I have felt constrained by having only a blog that is aimed at a special interest group...I have a lot of interests and things I would like to comment on.... I have started another blog that is not aimed at a special interest group."  He went on to say in the email that his "goal is to blog about the convoluted and difficult topics which it is not considered good to talk about in the PC world."  

So far there are only a few posts up, but I am sure once you read what he has posted, you will be interested in reading more.  The post that really struck my interests was titled, "An Open Letter to the Republican Party."  For the most part, I consider myself a moderate Democrat, while my friend considers himself a moderate Republican.  If you believe the media, we are both rare breed, or as the cartoon above states, "a long-extinct species."  

In his "Open Letter" he writes:  

I have not always been a Republican. As a young man I was a supporter of LBJ, and I actually voted for Bill Clinton; not once, but twice. I don't actually regret either stance. I've come to believe that the old saying, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain," is entirely true. As I aged, I got smarter and more realistic about the world, just as one is supposed to do.

I'm not for sure that the old saying above is true, mainly because I doubt I will ever be a Republican unless the GOP makes some drastic changes.  My friend also says:

I would like to say it is now no secret to anyone that the Republican Party must change if it is to survive, but that cannot be said. Some of the most radical right wing nuts are still contending the Party is suffering not from right wing idiocy, but from its failure to further embrace the right wing agenda.

As my friend says in his post, I am convinced that the great majority of Americans are not extremists. He justifies this (and i have to agree) by saying that "A country of extremists would not be embracing the changes now taking place in America regarding the bringing of full civil rights and acceptance to gay men and women. Although many Americans think otherwise, the growing acceptance of gays as deserving of the equality under the law all Americans enjoy is not an extremist position. It is a moderate position."

As I wrote in my comment on the "Open Letter" post:

I agree, it's time for change in both parties, though I consider myself a Democrat. The Democrats have moved too far left, and the Republicans too far right, which leaves no place for an American moderate. I'm not sure either party will moderate itself. The far left and right have too loud of a voice in each party. I have hopes for a true third party, not a one issue third party but one that will represent us moderates.

There needs to be a change in American politics.  Politics in the United States has become about what politicians are against, not what they support.  It is a totally negative view, and that must change.  Politicians also need to learn to compromise.  However, the Republican Party is finding it difficult to compromise because of the fear that they will lose their next election to a more extreme Republican if they are seen with a Democrat, especially if that Democrat is President Obama.