Another 4 yrs?....Remix....

Wow, another 4 years already?

I started this blog on a whim 4 years ago, and it's gathered dust during most of that time. Yet, in reviewing an earlier post against the backdrop of this latest round of "Pick The Prez", I'm struck by how little has changed. Red states, blue states, here we go again. Yet there are some signs of change...

I guess I have a few answers to some of my earlier questions.....
"Should moderates try to take back their own parties, wresting control from the more extremist members who currently have the reigns? Or are we moderates just too darn lazy to put up much of a fuss, and we'll be resigned to picking the lesser of two evils for decades to come?"
To the 2nd question, I won't speak for all moderates, but I obviously was too darn lazy to put up much fuss. One blog in 4 years? Ok, I'm pathetic. No effort to get involved in a campaign, or even at a local level. No real political movement or discourse...other than the occasional rant and enthusiastic "hell yeah" when Dennis Miller or Jon Stewart so artfully express my current frustrations with the status quo. Yep....lazy might be an understatement.

As to the first question....should we moderates take what's rightfully ours? I don't have firm stats, but I have to believe that most registered members of either party would rightfully shun the label of "conservative right" or "liberal left". And there would seem to be glimmers of hope. While Obama may never be confused as a moderate, he is at least different...outside the mainstream (or as outside as you can be and still hold the title of Congressman). As for the GOP, a supposedly moderate (Sen. McCain) is all but certain to be the Republican nominee. This despite the fact that most of the press (traditional and other) had written him off as unappealing to the "conservative base". Heck if you believed Rush or Ann Coulter, he's not even worthy of calling himself a Republican. Say what you will about Huckabee and Romney splitting the base, but I think the GOP primaries unveiled a dirty little secret that the talk radio conservatives and pundits would rather not admit....all Republicans aren't Right Wing conservatives.....in fact most probably don't appreciate being lumped in with Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the Moral Majority.

So how do we end up with this minor turn of events? Dumb cosmic luck, or were some of you moderates a lot less lazy than I? Did this shift in the Republican power come from the fed up moderates taking control of their party? Have those in the Democratic Party who are tired of business as usual, finally put forth a candidate who appears to be anything but business as usual?

I don't know....but I do know that in spite of my cynicism for the process....I'm once again drawn in. Like a moth to a flame --or more likely a rubber-necker to a broken down minivan at rush hour-- bring on the polls....show me who's bringing in the single-latino-upwardly-mobile-mother vote this minute! CNN, MSNBC, FOXNews.....wow me with all your little graphs and maps. Let the pundits make predictions, and then don't hold them to task when they're flat out wrong. Just please...in between the eye-candy and the fluff...please, give me some substance. You know "Issues"? At least give me and my lazy compatriots a shot a finding out where the candidates stand so that this time when we vote for the lesser of two evils, we are casting that ballot content in the knowledge that we have an "informed" opinion and aren't wasting our votes.