Politics is the Master Science (NEW)

Well over the past several months I have commented on topics in my blog such as my transition, religion or better yet religious intolerance and even sex or the lack thereof. This week I would love to talk about politics! I want to do so primarily because of the uniqueness of the political scene in 2008 with a Democratic Party caught up in a battle for its standard bearer it has not seen in decades and the Republicans soon to nominate someone no one thought it would nominate when all this process began last year and one who does not fit the mold of the party’s standard cookie cutter mold of the past twenty years. This is the most interesting election I can remember since the one I cannot remember between Kennedy and Nixon but studied in school many times. See- first of all I was a political science major in college and studied government, politics, political systems and law because of its fascination to me. Secondly, I remember even as a child in 1968 sitting in front of TV with my map coloring in who won what state between Nixon and Humphrey and watching the disgust on my father’s face as he saw that old Tricky Dick was going to win the Presidency.

I remember back in college watching some of my friends and even my wife studying these gigantic texts filled with all the science any biology or chemistry major could handle including such fun courses as PE Chem, microbiology and organic Chemistry while I whizzed through my courses filling my blue books with all sort of rhetoric and just to get more of I even took up a minor in Philosophy. They would always talk about how much prestige and work was involved in their scientific majors but I always responded with a quote from one of my favorite political philosophers- Aristotle who said “Politics is the Master Science” And by God, he was right. For politics, government and law controls so much of our lives and in reality determines what we can study at all if you think about it. Hell sometimes they even decide what can be taught in a science course or what must be taught in a science course.

This election in 2008 is stunning. Hilary Clinton and Barak Oboma are battling to the floors of the convention back room. Truly this may be the first Convention in many decades where the nominee will not be know until all the back door, smoke- filled room politics and schemes go on at the Convention and whoever wins this costly and bloody battle will have some cleaning up to do before the General Election comes around. I like Obama in that I think he is a very intelligent man who speaks well and is trying to bring about change to a system he sees as needing desperately to be fixed. He reminds me in some ways of a young Jack Kennedy who spoke with passion and youthfulness and who by doing so, and by having his Daddy buy off the Chicago political machine won an election over our boy Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon. I think it is clear from my posts to other’s blogs on the subject I despise Hilary Clinton and I think she would make a horrible President and it’s a shame because I think highly of woman and feel I am one myself but she is the wrong person to break the gender barrier for the U.S. Presidency. Unfortunately, I think she has enough political connections from days past to make sure she squeezes the nomination from Obama.

Assuming she does, it will make my choice very easy and the old party of the elephant will garner my vote once again. Why? Because here’s a little know secret about me. I am a registered Republican. Now before you go and tar and feather me for such disclosure hear me out. I joined the Grand Old Party at a time when I had seen the Democrats lead us through a decade of an ugly war not unlike the one we have now in Iraq thanks to a President who should be thrown out of the GOP for reasons of utter stupidity. I saw the Republicans come in and get us out of Vietnam and then open relations with China, started the peace process in the Middle East and Détente with the Russians. In the 40’s and 50’s and 60 and even the early 70’s the party of the GOP was not the ideologues they became since 1980. It was the party of Eisenhower, Ford, Rockefeller, John Anderson and Howard Baker. I am more of a libertarian in that I am more conservative on government spending and taxes and the development of economic growth and business while being what most would call a liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and of course without saying, the rights of transgendered people. I watched my party turn into an ugly monster since 1980 of hate filled extremists who are nothing more than cowardly obeying the demands of the religious right. I screamed for years for these idiots to get the hell out before they ruined the GOP. Now for the first time in 40 years the GOP is going to nominate someone the right wing does not like and those extreme right wing fanatics are upset and threatening to bolt the Party and take their votes elsewhere. See it was OK when they came to moderates in the party like me for years and told me to hold my breath and vote for the Party’s candidate despite the fact he would cast me into hell if he actually knew who I really was. I did so several times but there were times I voted Democratic or Independent as well. Now when the party finally nominates a maverick free thinking moderate and the moderates come to the Conservatives for the first time since 1980 and ask that they support the Party’s candidate despite their objections they go scurrying off like a bunch of pouting children! I hope McCain not ignores them but adds to insult to injury and nominates someone like Giuliani as his running mate just to piss off the right wing extremists even more. There are some, including me who actually suspect he is transgendered. How cool would that be if we can get him to come out!

I only can hope that Barak can pull it off and win the Democratic nomination so that I am faced with a very tough and difficult choice in the fall and one in which I am truly not sure how I will vote at all. However, at least it would be one election in which, for the first time, I will not feel so bad either way as I have done so in these so many past elections. To be honest, after I have voted these many long years, I always felt I needed to go home and bathe to wash off the ugliness and stench of many of the choices I was given. Obama and McCain would avoid that stench removing bath for me for sure. I hope 2008 is vastly different for me but either way this has been a fascinating election year for me and one I am grateful for as well. For politics is the master science my good friends!