Republican Party Loses its Way and Bloomberg

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Think and Ask's editor and publisher is sticking his neck out on why New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg decided the time had come to leave the Republican Party. Is his intention to run for president? No.

He knows he doesn't stand a chance to take the White House while holding a long-term relationship out of wedlock -- that idea was made in Hollywood not real life. While there is no doubt Bloomberg is a highly intelligent man, he fails at the podium to gain much traction in public, although in private he is charming and he has a good sense of humor. Bloomberg's lack of public charisma though fits well within the New York City Council chambers -- so he is in good company as a public figure.

It remains to be seen whether Bloomberg could actually handle a crisis -- and speaking as both a Republican and Manhattanite, let us keep our fingers crossed that there will never be another crisis here.

Bloomberg switched to "undeclared" -- or could be called independent (for those of you outside the United States this country really only has two parties and that is not set to change anytime soon.) His move follows a national survey by the Libertarian party showing that Republican registrations have faltered since 2004.

Earlier in June 2007 the Rasmussen Report found that only 30 percent of voters in the United States are now registered Republicans and 36 percent are registered Democrats, and the Libertarians claimed to have increased party membership 14 percent since December 2006.

As Bloomberg in the past was a Democrat, leaving the both parties behind now is nothing new. This writer, on the other hand, was undeclared in his younger years and registered as a Republican during the Clinton administration. Does this writer intend to switch? No. I'm holding out for the Republican Party to take back its roots. The Republican Party was once the fiscally conservative of the two. This party once protected freedom of religion without forcing religious values. Republican values also at one time favored entrepreneurialship and valued professional job creation at home above consumerism and added (Wall Street) shareholder value.

In June 2007 the Republican Party mailed surveys to 'us lucky few' asking our advice on key issues the party faces "against the Democrats."

I'm not one to check boxes without adding explanations - so indeed I scribbled comments across the paper before sealing the envelope.

First of all, 43 percent of the questions were misleading and did make claims against the Democrats that were not true. The record now shows that for the past seven years the Republican controlled Congress and White House have trumped any and all over-extended expenses of the previous Democrat administrations.

The Republican survey also asked about social issues that should not be part of a political party platform, such as stem cell research, abortion, the marriage amendment, and wire tapping. These social issues should be left to the Democrats - Republicans should know better than to focusing upon nothing more than lean-mean government, innovation through business practices, and building relationships with democratic states to advance business growth from the United States.

Getting involved with personal affairs of the individual is not a Republican value and only entangles the party platform with numerous and absolute "lost causes."

The most striking questions on the survey were about President George W Bush's war on terrorism. It is a tired argument at this point and empowers no one. The United States is not the only country affected by terrorism. Assume such an attack will indeed happen again -- at some point, as it will likely happen in Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Japan again and again. Violence is, unfortunately, just part of human existence. So, we must move on and become better at: Managing ourselves; dealing with other countries; and accepting that what works at home doesn't work elsewhere.

The risk of leadership is that others follow - the risk of totalitarianism is that others will pay us back in kind.

On Social Security reform - we have both parties to thank for the future mess of this entitlement. Both parties are guilty of stealing from the till since the Reagan administration. The solution to this would be to hold the parties responsible for paying back those IOUs.

It will take much more than a grand plan to rebuild the Republican Party. It will take a single or multiple leader(s) to recognize that emerging economies of the world have shed their plans of military build up for economic growth and prosperity. Their plans are working. In 20 years time the United States will no longer be the world's economic leader.

So, for now, no, there was no financial contribution for the Republican Party from this writer's bank account, but consider me on the waiting list to hold-out for change without returning my status to undeclared.




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