Policy or Politics ?

Someone today commented that I’d be against any Democrat policy, just because it’s from a Democrat. Another person was surprised to hear that, thinking that I am a Democrat.

The reality is that I’m neither Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, nor anything else. If an Obama or Pelosi policy worked well for our nation I’d be all for it.

If government welfare programs were beneficial I wouldn’t mind paying for them. If they helped people that needed the help and encouraged people to get off of welfare and begin to support themselves I would vote for them. They don’t though. Government welfare, individual or corporate, provides some short-term benefit, but in the long-term just encourages people to make bad decisions and stick their hand out for more. We might benefit one-hundred children this generation but encourage one-thousand to be on welfare next generation.

Likewise, if vice prohibitions worked, I’d be for them. They don’t. They don’t reduce drugs, gambling, or prostitution, and they do cause a plethora of problems.

So far I’m sounding pretty Libertarian. But I disagree with many Libertarians too. While I’m not pro-war, I’m also not nearly as anti-war as the Libertarian plank espouses. And while I believe we should have about 10% as much government as Democrats believe we should and maybe 30% as much as Republicans believe we should, I probably also believe we need twice as much as Libertarians.

In the end I don’t care whose policy something is, as long as it’s a policy that is good for our nation. (What I’ve determined though is that most policies aren’t likely good for our nation, regardless of who they come from. This usually because of unintended consequences, not so much the policy itself.)

I’m amazed how often I hear people trying to defend a policy only because it’s the policy of their chosen party or their favored politician. Even when they agree with all of the reasons it’s a bad policy and that these outweigh anything good about it, they still try to defend it. I’ve even heard people say that they support it just because it’s part of their party’s or favorite politicians plank – no questions asked.

We need to stop being lemmings and start focusing on getting our nation back on track.

(BTW, who are ‘policies’ good for? Mostly government and politicians.)