Jason_From_NYC

I agree with Kitty Hawk and Betsy. Both make some important points. Bush isn’t tough enough but Kerry is a step in the wrong direction. During the primary Kerry jumped on the bandwagon attacking Bush’s war effort on moral grounds. Given his credentials for doing this in the Vietnam War, Kerry represents a moral attack on America’s right to defend herself and I believe he'll live up to his reputation. Now the Religious Right is a worry. However, the nihilist Left is also a worry. Between intrinsicists and subjectivists, whom do you choose? It’s a bad choice all around. However, although they are unconscious of it, the religious intrinsicists in the Republican Party accidentally accept some of the good things about the American tradition. In the long run we need to explicate and ground those values. However, in the short run we can benefit from the willingness of the Right – religious or not – to defend and fight for American.

Let me make a suggestion. When trying to influence the Republicans, don’t attack – lure. For example, instead of bashing Bush for his policies of appeasement (and there are many), praise him for being tough (relatively speaking) but say he needs to do much more. For example, he needs to understand that the enemy is an ideologically driven movement: Islamism. We should not praise the enemy’s ideology but let them know the truth: we loathe their values. Let them appease us, if they want any continued relationship. That’s just the idea – you can think of examples yourself. What the Republicans need is criticism from the “other” direction. Bush will compromise in the only direction that he is being criticized from - currently the Left. However, don’t “bash” the President or try to undermine him. Constructive criticism helps the Republicans to hold off from compromising or lessen the extent that they do. Yes, this is a stop-gap measure but it gets us in the game. The aim is to gain respect and motivate an inquiry. It plants the seed for further growth in the party. Comments? Jason PS This is my 1st attempt at posting on this site.