"Personally, I've always been of the opinion that we first ought to kick the Left to the curb, THEN dismantle things, but that's just me."
I say we take them both at the same time. Go for the easy wins first and build momentum and political capital. One example is bilingual education, because there's a broad consensus against it.
An issue like abortion is a different matter. I'd love to see all 50 states go pro-life, but there's no consensus as yet... it needs building. So we can hold the line on abortion at the margins, and push back for smaller victories here and there. There's a consensus supporting parental notification, for example.
What galls me though, is the GOP tendency to compromise first and ask questions later. Almost as bad is Republican willingness to trust Democrats on a handshake.
I'd tend to agree, but I personally am of the view that when possible, we ought to try to sucker the Left into making the political equivalent of Pickett's charge.
Knocking out the Left will help us dismantle things a lot more. If we'd kept Slade Gorton in, and had we been able to knock off Harry Reid in 1998, and add another GOP Senator in 2000, we might not be in the spot we are in, where we have to play politics.
And we need to broaden our base, or at least try to destabilize the other side's base. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were at serious risk of a crack-up. We just have to hold on a little longer, make our move, and we can get the type of majorities that will allow us to dismantle the Great Society.
What galls me though, is the GOP tendency to compromise first and ask questions later. Almost as bad is Republican willingness to trust Democrats on a handshake.
In some places, your handshake is your honor and your word. In some places, such as mostly DIMocRAT D.C., those are hollow concepts.........