Instant Change with Executive Orders

Headlines from Drudge are easy topics for political discussion, due to his enormous reach. This article reached top-line status today, and I have a few concerns and thoughts regarding it. It seems that more than a few items on this list are partisan hot buttons, and addressing these during the first days of an Obama presidency won’t go very far in keeping social moderates to conservatives very happy.

First point:

“Bush used his executive power to limit federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights who argue that destroying embryos is akin to killing a fetus. Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Many moderate Republicans also support the research, giving it the stamp of bipartisanship.”

This is an issue which I fully expected Obama to reverse once in office, so it comes as no surprise to me. However, due to recent promising research into the use of adult stem cells over embryonic,  I hope that he is as willing to be sensitive to what should be seen as a reasonable moral objection to embryonic stem cell research, and give fair consideration to reinstating the restrictions on federal funding if it proves to be a less fruitful path during his presidency.

Further:

“One of Bush’s first acts was to reinstate full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. The restrictions were first ordered by President Reagan and the first President Bush followed suit. President Clinton lifted them soon after he occupied the Oval Office and it wouldn’t be surprising if Obama did the same.”

I am generally anti-abortion, though I favor a federalist approach to a woman’s right to abortion over the sweeping constitutional ban that the right seems to favor. However, my biggest concern over this is a fiscal issue. When we have a faltering economy and a rather large budget deficit, why would we allow foreign aid to go towards a practice that a huge portion of our tax-paying electorate object to? Federal aid for abortions within the US is one issue, but using our tax dollars to fund abortion in another country seems to be shoving the Pro-Life movement’s face in it.

These are ultimately Obama’s choice to make, and the overwhelming victory last week certainly gives him more of a mandate than Bush ever claimed to have. However, when running on a platform as a “uniter” and “centrist”, it would be best for Obama to address issues that could help solve some of our current economic pain rather than using his first hours to appease his base.

Liberty – What a Concept!

I came up with the title of my blog after reading a column on Forbes.com written by Claudia Rosette that managed to open my eyes, more or less due to the simple elegance of its ideas.

The concern that many who typically support the GOP is how they are going to win back the millions of voters that either stayed home last Tuesday due to apathy, or switched over and voted for Obama. Now again, I don’t want to give the impression that I want to start a GOP cheering section, but since I don’t see a viable third party developing in the foreseeable future, and my greater concern for fiscal issues over social ones means I probably won’t be a strong supporter of the Democrats anytime soon, my best bet to find some satisfaction probably lies with the GOP.

Some ideas that I continue to hear include “moving back further right to the ‘base’”, and the “base” is typically strict social conservatives or evangelicals. Others say that the GOP needs to continue moving to center to try to appeal to the moderates that flocked to Obama during this election cycle. In the end, Rosette hit a basic and fundamental idea, yet one that is continually missed.

During the primaries, a certain politician managed to mobilize a very large group of followers with an average age that seemed to be quite a bit younger than any other candidate, Barack Obama included. Now I hesitate to mention his name on this blog because his most devout followers can tend to be a bit unrelenting and rabid in the comments of blogs that talk about him, so let’s just call him “Pon Raul”. I happen to find “Raul” to be a bit of a kook. Okay, I understate the situation by only saying a “bit”, but moving on to my point, “Raul” proved that a message of personal liberty, low taxes, and small government can be packaged in a way that inspires the younger generations of voters that the rest of the GOP so covets. The other interesting point about these young “Pon Raul” supporters is that they generally seemed to dislike the rest of the GOP candidates, and predominately gave their support to Obama last week. Some of this may have to do with anti-war sentiments amongst this group, though the fact that this message of liberty brought in a ton of young voters, who eventually went on to vote for one of the most liberal candidates in recent memory should scare the GOP, or at least make clear how the rest of its candidates are viewed.

Try it out, GOP. Make sure that it’s clear that “Compassionate Conservatism” (or rather Compassionate Big Government Spending) and the K Street Project are ideas of the past. Give up on all the pork. Start fighting once again for personal liberty. If you must make social issues a primary emphasis, at leat push for a federalist approach to the issue. Stick to your principles, and get this message out, and I think that young supporters and moderates may start coming back and the idea of Liberty will no longer seem so antiquated.

Introduction

“I’m starting a blog” I thought to myself, while feeling particularly disgruntled last Wednesday morning. Why was I feeling disgruntled on that particular day? I know what you’re thinking – he missed 35-cent wings on Tuesday night at Buffalo Wild Wings! As much as I hated to miss that, it wasn’t the primary reason. It was, of course, because of the results of the election.

I can’t say I’m too upset that Barack Obama won, as he ran a great campaign, motivated millions to support him, and deserved the victory that he attained. Further, I also wasn’t as bothered that the Democrats picked up seats in both the House and the Senate, as the massive turnout for Obama surely helped to fuel that advance. I was more upset that there really weren’t many viable options for those of us that consider ourselves fiscally conservative. Now I’m no Republican, though my fiscally conservative and socially moderate to liberal views typically push me towards siding with the GOP when it’s time to cast my votes.

The state of the GOP these days is a sad one, and the early infighting on Wednesday morning didn’t help my outlook, which brings me back to the beginning – starting a blog. Now some self-reflection regarding my qualifications to start blogging:

• I’m not a particularly gifted writer
• I’m not especially funny
• I don’t exactly have any unique insight

But in the end, this is the internet, and a lack of talent or even something good to say has never stopped anyone. I’ve chosen to be optimistic about Obama’s presidency, and I will support him as my president. All of my concerns about him and his qualifications for the position are now history as far as I’m concerned, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be vocal about my disagreements in policy.

And so, I begin my new life as a blogger. It will be predominantly political, but I plan on talking about music once in a while and posting things that are funny enough to share.