Thanks a Billion

First, to my loyal readers (ahem), if I have any besides the couple that post, just click below and let me know you have been here. I promise to start writing more! Also, you can send the blog to anyone you think would appreciate a more red to purple column.

Which brings me to the idea that labels stink. What does a Republican mean? Well, if you look at George Bush we have a Republican who believes in BIG government, BIG debt and BIG health care reform (see the Medicare/Medicaid Act) and BIG nationalization of banks. I just don't know that party distinctions currently make much sense. Bush is looking very Blue to me these days.

When reruns of West Wing are so close to the last election that you could have predicted who would win--I really started thinking about this. In the last season there is a character, Arnie Vinick who is running as a fiscally conservative Republican against a minority candidate, Santos. Santos is Hispanic. The Republican Committee is trying to force Vinick to play to the "base" (i.e. the "religious right") by talking more about "values" and gay marriage etc. So what happens? He loses. Why? Because the moderates are not necessarily conservative on the "values" issues. They want to know that they will have money in the bank, they will be protected from tyrants and terrorists and they believe in democracy--which to them means freedom. This includes the freedom to make many choices in their lives.

So---by choosing Palin (and trust me I don't have anything against her) McCain played to the "base". They may have come out in stronger force to vote BUT he lost the moderates. Palin may not even have been so terrible for the moderates. She didn't push her religious views on her state and in interviews with the LA Times before her run, she said she believed in sex ed in schools etc. Seems more reasonable than portrayed, but I digress. What Republicans should stand for is freedom. Relatively free markets, freedom from tyranny and terrorism. Freedom of religion for all. (Happy Chrismahanawanza!)

So I did ask one of my commuter buddies if his brother, Aaron Sorkin, actually wrote Obama's acceptance speech. It just seemed so "West Wing" to me. The answer was no ....but he did help with parts of the speech to the Democratic Convention. I KNEW IT. How is it that those West Wing guys were predicting the future?

Last thought for the day before Thanksgiving, how do we give thanks? Well, as I was attempting to extract some cash from a machine at Citibank the screen actually said "Have a nice day and thanks a million!" Maybe that should have read "a billion" ....or maybe 25 billion.....or maybe 45 billion....or maybe....