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We are at a point in our nation's political life when there is no point of 'moderation' as between two widely divergent political world views. The remaining Conservatives understand and cherish the Constitution, free enterprise and the joy of liberty. Those on the left view politics, history and the future though the eyes of Karl Marx and other like minded follow-on "philosophers". There is simply no middle ground between these forces and the Republicans have for too long allowed the democrats to drag this nation inch by inch into a Marxist nightmare. It is Fabian socialism practiced by patient enemies of America. The Republicans need to come back strong and start dismantling the bureaucracy's at every level of government.

I was referring to the practice of governance where to the democrat party "bipartisan" has always meant giving them something for everything the Republicans attempt. A practice that is rarely if ever reciprocated in return.

You see, I wasn't referring to the election, but you no doubt observed that the democrat campaign was vicious and deceptive. Republican's tires slashed in Wisconsin, Republican offices invaded and vandalized in various other places, Moore's phony 'documentary' and the CBS forged memos were but the tip of the iceberg.

The Republicans campaigned hard but their's was a campaign of substance and fact. Let's face it: that Kerry was a stooge for the Viet Cong is an ugly thing, but it was HIS doing. The pro-American side would have been remiss not to point out his record of collaboration and appeasement to our enemies. It was just that -- a matter of factual record.

Ben, I'm afraid you and I may have to agree to disagree on this one. I know many very fine moderate democrats with whom I have spoken at length, some of whom I consider friends, and none resemble in attitude the extreme liberal you describe. Guess what - they don't like Michael Moore either!

The blue state/red state thing, though useful in practical terms, has taken on a life of its own in ways that just makes the division worse than it already is. Yes, myopic passifist liberals who think we can just engage terrorists in dialogue and get them to see the light are thick upon the ground. And yes, extremist Marxian liberals exist who are too naive to recognize how consistent capitalism is with human nature. And yes, there are plenty of schmucks like Michael Moore around to give moderate democrats a bad name. And I agree that slashing tires and so forth is despicable. But these are not the democrats I know, though they *are* the ones the media loves to showcase, just like it likes to sensationalize negative images of the war in Iraq. The media doesn't give a fig as long as it it gets our attention, and extremists do get our attention, don't they? But just like religious extremists make many moderate republicans uncomfortable, so do the extremist liberals make the moderate democrats uncomfortable from what I've seen.

One of the great challenges in uniting our country again is persuading people to stop painting huge groups of people who have some things - but not all things - in common with the same brush. I invite you to join me in setting a good example by resisting that urge. What I see from right to left and left to right is a bell curve, with lots of moderate, moral, good, patriotic Americans making up most of it. Many of the democratic ones are feeling disenfranchised - they held their noses and voted for Kerry because they are still more philosophically, moderately liberal than conservative, but they were less than enthusiastic about the guy and have understandable concerns about the ability to the Democratic party to see that their interests are adequately represented. Lord knows it abandoned them this time.

YMMV

Respectfully,
Polygirl