giddyiguana

Dang it, I really need to be working on a paper for my American Political Behavior class right now. This is the first full day off I've had since school started back that isn't eaten up entirely with other obligations and therefore a great opportunity to play catch-up. But....there's a grey kitten sitting beside me, Nick Toons on my TV, and SuicideGirls on my laptop. Somehow I can't muster up enough interest in voting behavior to get any real work done.

In other news...I'm issuing a challenge. Disagree with me!

You wouldn't think that'd be too hard to find, especially here in the buckle of the Bible Belt / asshole of the Confederacy. Problem is, I don't want to just get into a shouting match: I want to debate. Here in the South, I'm beginning to think that we're expected to just vote Republican and "support our troops" because that's what God wants us to do, and to even suggest otherwise is, well....just un-American.

I didn't always have this problem, especially when I was a Republican myself. Even when I was working for conservative types like "Uncle Dave" Beasley, most of my friends were various shades of leftists. It was a wonderful, mind-expanding experience to have friends with whom you could disagree without being disagreeable. So much so that I eventually saw the logic in their arguments and wound up switching teams entirely a few years later.

And now I'm in college (again), majoring in political science. I am now quite certain of what I believe on most issues, but I'd still like to have someone around who disagrees with me with whom I can debate. The problem is, all my professors come from the same side of the political spectrum that I do, as do virtually all my friends who actually give a damn about politics. I can still debate with my friend Doug occasionally, but with him we typically wind up splitting ideological hairs since we essentially have the same beliefs but just call them by different names.

I bring this up since I had a discussion with a "Republican" classmate of mine the other day. I thought that, as an eloquent, college-educated Republican, he would make a worthy adversary. I was disappointed. As it turns out, we wound up agreeing on the vast majority of issues we discussed, and he as much as admitted that he only belongs to the party out of expediency. Since Republicans are in charge of virtually everything in this state, belonging to the "winning team" would be a good move for his future career. And while I can definitely understand that, it still means that the position of my "loyal opposition" remains open.

So, if you're a Republican (or Buchananite conservative, Constitution Party member, or anything similar) who's able to explain why you believe the way you do and defend these beliefs using actual unbiased evidence, I'd love to hear from you. To paraphrase "your" President, "Bring it on!"

If you think abortion should be outlawed, then tell me about it. If you think the war in Iraq was justified, then explain it to me. If you think that tax cuts for the rich and massive deficit spending is somehow good for the economy, then show me the numbers. If you're a Jim DeMint supporter, explain to me how outsourcing is good for the economy. If you think that massive deregulation of virtually every industry under the sun is a great idea, prove it to me. If that whole "wall of separation between church and state" is overrated, let me know why. I'm not being critical, and I'm not conservative-baiting. I honestly want to have an open, honest discussion with you about the fundamental issues shaping our society today.

There was once a time when politicians actually managed to get along. They could argue with each other until they were blue in the face while they were "on the job," but at the end of the day they'd go have drinks together and work out deals to get things done. It wasn't as intensely personal then as it has become now. These days, politics has developed a nasty "us versus them" mentality in which cooperation is becoming increasingly difficult, when the truth is, while we may disagree on the methods, we want basically the same things for this country. Why can't we sit down together, take a dispassionate look at the facts, and work together for that "better America" we all claim we want?

So, consider this a call for sanity. All I want is to debate with a Republican who isn't just going to call me names for disagreeing with her/him and who is actually interested in working with a liberal wiener like me to reach some real answers.

Any takers?