GOP Recovery Plan

There's a familiar pattern in American politics, where a party starts getting some real power and starts thinking it can use that power to start forcing the country into their little mold. This arrogance then causes them to lose big in elections, giving them a valuable opportunity to rethink their platform. It happened in 1992 and 2010 to the Democrats...this year, it happened to the Republicans.

What does the GOP need to do to be worthy of a comeback? Here are my suggestions:

1) Do be financially conservative without appearing like a soulless dick. A balanced budget is one thing; a schmuck like Romney joking about firing people during a Recession just makes you look stupid.

2) Don't mindlessly attack whole segments of the population. Intelligent people don't try to control or influence what birth control women have access to. Intelligent men don't quibble with women about what "real" rape is and "men" who do deserve a punch in the nose, not a job with lots of power.

3) Don't take power you were given on a limited government platform and try to be the lifestyle police. Gay and lesbian people are really cool when you get to know them and our society is immeasurably richer for its diversity. That LGBT folks want to form committed relationships with legal standing is an awesome thing and not something you should even think about getting in the way of.

4) Do stand out by becoming the party that takes civil liberties more seriously and doesn't shred the Bill of Rights at every opportunity. Again, back to that small government thing. Using drones in the US, the TSA and its constant grabs for more power to stupidly embarrass senior citizens, the endless Drug War and its abominations like Asset Forfeiture...shut them down before we end up hunting you with dogs, OK?

5) Do remain supportive of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Speaking of civil liberties, this is one of your party's few solid, smart pro-right positions. Don't be be like California Republicans and support dumb gun laws.

These are my suggestions...make of the what you will. As a swing voter, I will only vote for the best candidates and in this election cycle, you gave me very little to support.

Ditto (Election 20XX)

Some Republicans: that Republican candidate is too liberal
Some Republicans: that Republican candidate is too conservative
Some Republicans: that Republican candidate is Ron Paul
Most Republicans: Obama is a bigger dick and that's why we should vote GOP
Most Republicans: We want less government except for all the stuff we want to ban

Some Democrats: Obama is too liberal
Some Democrats: Obama is too conservative
Most Democrats: Obama is a dick but Republicans are bigger dicks and that's why we should vote Democrat if they nominate a Honey Badger.
Most Democrats: We want less government except for all the stuff we want to ban

News media: BLAH BLAH BLAH we have something relevant to say BLAH BLAH

Most people in the US: there's no 'None of the Above' option and old reruns of Gilian's island make more sense than this crap

Don't Wait for a Leader: Become One

The Net uprising over SOPA/PIPA this week has been an interesting exercise. It *looks* as if Congress is backing down, though of course dumb laws like this are revived and become laws all the time. It looks as if Obama is opposed to them, although his recent surrender regarding the military detainment of civilians has shown that he will support the Democratic party's interests over those of the American people.

The election this Fall promises to be a gloomy one. Since we don't have a 'None of the Above' option on the ballot, our vote is a forced choice between a sellout incumbent president and a field of Republican alternatives who I'd hesitate to give a supermarket job reference for, with Ron Paul being the one possible exception.

Maybe it's time we all stopped waiting for a leader to come along and took back the reins of our own damn country. When enough Americans get pissed off, we can make the government back down. Get involved, stay informed, fight back. According to this article, 4.5 MILLION people took the trouble to sign a petition against the acts. That's huge.)

Put the government back on the short least it was released from after 9/11, a leash it has been furiously trying to put on us!