Someone who gets it
“I am concerned about the environment. I love to wear black. I think government is best when it stays out of people’s lives and business as much as possible. I love punk rock. I believe in a strong national defense. I have a tattoo. I believe government should always be efficient and accountable. I have lots of gay friends. And yes, I am a Republican.”
The above came from a transcript of Meghan McCain’s speech to the Log Cabin Republicans. The whole can be found at the Daily Beast. I recommend taking the time to read it.
My thoughts after reading it (yes, I’m a few days behind getting to it, but that’s the way things go) were very simple. She’s someone who gets it. Unlike many Republicans, she’s not clinging to the past. Instead, she’s found her way to boiling down the core values of the Republican Party and working on applying them to the current environment.
Reading her thoughts brings up some thoughts from friends of mine after the 2004 election when there was talk about a need for a “Purple” Party that blended the best parts of the Republican and Democrat Parties, much of which was often exemplified by Meghan’s father, Sen. John McCain, in the eyes of many people. Whether or not Sen. McCain could actually be held up as the poster child of that viewpoint, it doesn’t change the validity of it.
For several years now, I’ve believed the Libertarian Party was what the doctor ordered, but I honestly don’t know anymore. At the end of the day, I don’t think any political party has the magic bullet because the minute you start pushing the agenda of a party, you’ve bought into the system, which has its own pitfalls.
Instead, I think what we need are more people who are willing to stand up and simply say, “This is what I believe in and what I want to accomplish.” More and more, the major political parties are reminding me of Unions and their tactics to force their members to march lock-step no matter the direction they’re moving. Do they accomplish some good things? Of course. In the long run, though, do I believe they do more harm than good? Absolutely.
What Meghan McCain put forward in her speech to the Log Cabin Republicans, however, shows a line of thinking that could actually pull the party back to being more good than bad. Shifting the party to thinking in a more modern fashion without clinging to things that are either completely mired in the past or are too wrapped up in religious dogmatic thought processes would go a long way to gaining more support for the Republican Party.
The same, of course, could be said for the other side of the aisle. Much like my viewpoint on religion, my general feeling is that the problem isn’t with the particular philosophical stance that would be called Republican or Democrat (or Libertarian or Green or whatever). The problem starts when it becomes organized beyond the level of ‘hey, let’s work together since we think alike.’ After not too long, it gets to no longer be about making a difference and more about gaining and keeping power.
Obviously, I’m rambling more than a little on this. The core thing here is that people like Meghan McCain give me hope that there are people out there who see what needs to happen and aren’t so completely wrapped up in the game that they lose sight of the goal. We could do with a few more voices out there espousing similar viewpoints.