That's the way life is for partisans. They just can't think outside the political box.
As soon as someone starts a conversation with "I'm a Republican" or "I'm a Democrat," I usually stop listening. If they say "I'm an American," then my ears stay open. Trying to reason with partisans is a waste of time. They, as a rule, see things from a limited perspective and that perspective is seldom their own. It is a party-fed line of bullshit tailored by a political hack in Washington whose only goal is further the agenda of an organization whose selfish interests only undermine the American system of government.
Democrats blame Republicans for the mess we're in these days. Republicans blame Democrats. In fact, both sides share the blame and neither side presents any real solutions because they can't get beyond their own partisan agendas that are more about control than what's good for the country.
It is not one party or another that is destroying America. It's the political system itself - a self-perpetuating monster that feeds on money, lust for power and self-interest. Republicans tolerate a crook like Tom DeLay in their midst. Democrats have Corrine Brown. Republicans had Duke Cunningham. Democrats had Jim Trafficant. Both parties have their crooks, their cheats, their swindlers and their con-artists. And both parties try and protect them.
George W. Bush uses the power of the White House to go after his enemies. So did Bill Clinton. Abuse of power by a President, Democrat or Republican, is nothing new.
Democrats and Republicans voted to authorize the war in Iraq. Democrats now say they were misled by Bush. They were. We expect our elected officials to ask the hard questions before voting to send young American men and women to die in a war based on lies but the sad truth is no one on Capitol Hill - Republican or Democrat - raised a serious objection before giving Bush permission to wage war.
Both Democrats and Republicans voted for the right-robbing USA Patriot Act, a single piece of legislation that gutted the Constitution and destroyed the American way of life. And Democrats alongside Republicans in the Senate this week and voted to reauthorize that act.
On Meet the Press last week, Jane Harman, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she and other Democrats supported using the National Security Agency to spy on Americans but did not like the fact that the President didn't fully brief Congress about it.
"I support the program," she said. "I've never flinched from that."
In other words, she and her fellow Democrats are not upset that the United States government is using all its technology to eavesdrop on Americans. She's just mad that she wasn't in the loop.
What all this tells me is that neither party gives a damn about the Constitution or the freedoms that used to define this country.
It tells me that both have sold out their country in the name of politics.
It tells me Republicans and Democrats have one thing in common: They are all traitors to the United States of America.
Originally published at and © Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue
Who the hell is this Thompson guy anyway?
