Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Arlen Specter Switches Parties!

If I were looking for a real indicator of a "sea change" in American politics, this would be it. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is switching parties. The longtime moderate voice of the GOP has thrown in the towel and says freely that the party has moved away from his beliefs.
"Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."
The GOP is fast becoming a fringe party and none too soon for me. The radical far-right factions that have kidnapped the GOP are pushing it into irrelevance. Once Al Franken is seated as Senator from Minnesota, Specter will give the Democrats a filibusterer proof majority and the real work of rebuilding our country can begin.

2 comments:

blackleatherbookshelf said...

What did the Rebubbalicans expect? Specter voted country over party for the stimulus package and the RNC all but issued a fatwa on him. So when he finally goes where his (and the state I live in) interests lay, they act all upset? Please.....

toothbrush said...

Our government is based on checks and balances. This was the first lesson in high school government. There is a reason for that - so that no branch of our government is more powerful than the other. Checks and balances. His move is yet another nail in the coffin of this concept. And it's my opinion that it will be very difficult to return to our system of checks and balances even if the immediate outcome of his move could be for the benefit to some - mainly his own. He's a frigging dinosaur and this is his last stand at preservation. It's the presidence he's set that is the problem, not the actual action.

The republican argument is not as good as it could be. The mans got a right to choose his side. But it just adds to the division. We have to continue to be vigilant and seek out the danger in this regardless of the rights current ineptness. Checks and balances, this is the foundation of our system and this move is a significant step in eliminating that in my opinion. Just because someone has an R next to their name doesn't mean they have to do everything the party does. Specter has a long history of that already so his move was something a bit more symbolic than fundamental. Even though there is little hope in the current Republican party, that doesn't mean we should give up on them - at some point in our future, they will have a use.

Oh - by the way - big thanks to you Hardy Haberman for posting my (our) comments so regularly! It's nice to be able to have a voice on your blog.