deleted post.

I know it's against blogging law, but I deleted a post. If memory serves, I have only deleted one other post, and that was for someone else's privacy. I know it probably showed up in some readers, and that's fine, but I thought I should give something of an explanation.

It was supposed to be a "I'm not bitter, I'm empowered because I have an independent personality" kind of thing, but the more I looked it over the more I thought it didn't quite work. It may have implied things inconsistent with some of what I have said before. I think I was really writing about my dissatisfaction with my current relationship, and it was a way of venting. I wrote it, posted it, and then I was all vented. At that point, no need to keep it up.

Anyway, deal with it.

Some good(ish) news and a book

I got a little too worked up a little too early. The latest Reuters-Zogby Poll put Clinton ahead of Obama, and McCain beating both of them. Gallup has similar results, though McCain's lead there is statistically significant over Obama but not Clinton.

Does this mean the tide is turning? Not really. It just reminds me that it is still far too early to call the race. I need to think positively--I've been reading too much of the morose Andrew Sullivan

New book: I bought Grover Norquist's Book Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. He describes gay Republicans thusly:

Gay Americans who simply want to be left alone recognize that the modern center-right movement has no agenda to outlaw homosexuality or use the power of the state to tax or attack gays. Gay Americans who are also homeowners, businessmen, shareholders, gun owners or men and women of faith will find the modern left ready, willing and able to tax, regulate and attack them--not as gays--but as income earners, property owners, gun owners, etc.

That nicely complements my view: why does being gay have to change my views on unrelated issues like guns, taxes, national security, or abortion. Why does gay marriage, to which I am personally indifferent, (or even civil unions, which I support but much of the gay othrodoxy decries as insufficent) have to become my top priority litmus test issue?

Why I'm becoming an Alcoholic

If I thought Republicans could regain at least one chamber of congress, I'd be able to just roll my eyes and go along for the ride.

Back in 2002 when Republicans regained the senate and suddenly controlled both chambers as well as the White House a Republican Professor (There about about as many of those as there are Republican gays--eleven) said to me "I voted for all Republicans, but I am a little worried that they actually won everything. I don't want to live in a one party state--I don't want to be in Argentina." He was exaggerating for sure, and at the time I laughed him off. I have since decided, however, that one of the reasons Republicans lost their way on limited government is that they had no opposition. Human nature is to exercise power once you have it, and without any checks Republicans become the same big government wastrels we accuse Democrats of being.

But with both the legislature and the executive branches controlled by the party that doesn't even pay lip service to limited government, I'm bracing for disaster. I'm getting ready for mandatory health care I don't want paid for by my higher taxes. As a professional, I'll be one of the "wicked rich," despite the fact that my graduate school loan payments will eat up every extra dollar I make over that of others my age. Even with all this "fiscal discipline" (which to Democrats means higher taxes) the looming social security catastrophe will continue to be ignored. Corporations will be squeezed by even higher corporate taxes and more regulation, making it harder for them to employ me and other middle class folks, let alone less skilled employees. Then again, the less skilled employees will be all right because they have unions who will see renewed power to keep the wages of their members high by creating barriers to entry (and thus unemployment). There will be a withdrawal from Iraq (whether we should have gone in the first place is no longer the debate--at this point, the U.S., unlike a Catholic teenager, should not just pull out) and a weakening of our national defenses. Oh, and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that they will make no real progress on gay issues either.

Well, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Never thought I'd Say This

I'm pulling for Clinton.

Certainly one reason is that she is more beatable than B. Hussein Obama, but frankly I am starting to get pessimistic at any Republican winning the White House. The economy is likely to be the primary issue of the election, but McCain's focus is on foreign policy. McCain's economic policies (free trade, tax cuts coupled with spending limits, deregulation) are all great, but they aren't sexy. They won't quickly fix anything. We (by which I mean Americans--I am using the nontraditional meaning of "we" that doesn't include me) want our government to meddle right now, to give us money we haven't earned by taking it from rich people we don't like anyway. Never mind that we bought houses we couldn't afford (or conversely made unnecessarily risky loans--both sides of the transaction want bailouts, and neither deserve them).

So why am I pulling for Clinton over Obama--didn't I just say here that there is little difference between the two? A few Reasons:

First, she's beatable...if not in 2008, then in 2012.
Second, she's highly criticizable until then.
Third, her policies are, unexpectedly, like 10% less socialist than Obama. Right now, I'll take whatever crumbs I can get.

Don't get me wrong. I'll campaign and vote for McCain, and I have already given him money. I'm just afraid I'll need a lot of wine over the next four and a half years.

Maybe I can borrow a little vino from those of you who felt the same way for the last 8.

I guess I just don't get it.

My politics puzzle some and anger others. Apparently I am some sort of Uncle Tom's Log Cabin Republican. As a gay man, I guess I am required by some contract I do not remember signing to focus the entirety of my political energy towards the legalization of gay marriage. I am not allowed to consider fiscal policy, foreign policy, or any other policy above gay marriage. Excuse me for thinking that terrorism and the social security crisis are a little more important than legalizing something I don't really need anyway.

William F. Buckley

William F. Buckley, Jr. passed away last night, and along with Reagan, and Friedman will join the pantheon of almost mythic figures of conservatism. He represented the intellectual side of conservatism and founded National Review Magazine. The sad thing is that with his passing, the right is loses another of its idea men. While poking fun at Hillary and Ted Kennedy can be great fun, that alone is not going influence much.

It is especially tragic that Buckley died at time when so-called conservatives have abandoned many of his core principles.

I'll miss him.

Why I don't hate McCain

So it seems pretty well set that the GOP will nominate McCain. I can live with this. Is he my ideal candidate? No, but since I am not yet old enough to run for president myself (gimme another ten years), he’ll do. I don’t love him, but I don’t hate him either.

First, part of me is excited about his “maverick” reputation. It’s almost admirable that he is not afraid to buck party orthodoxy when he believes in it. It shows a commitment to principle, which I consider a good thing (let’s save for a moment a discussion of what those principles he’s committed to actually are). I am (yes, still) a gay Republican. I like the idea of a nominee who, while still Republican, doesn’t quite fit the cookie cutter.

Now , there’s a lot that John McCain stands for that I can get behind. He’s pro-life (hardly a litmus test for me, but still I’m more comfortable protecting a fetus). He’s in favor of the death penalty (please don’t make me get into a discussion of reconciling those views. I can do it, but that’s not the point here). He’s hawkish on foreign policy (though he’s staunchly against torture). He’s on the conservative side of universal healthcare. And most importantly for me, he’s pretty much a fiscal conservative.

“BUT WAIT,” the conservative McCain haters shout, “He voted against the Bush tax cuts, not once but TWICE!”

True, but he was worried about tax cuts without corresponding spending limits. That is a very tenable position for a fiscal conservative. Now he did vote for the tax cuts, the third time around, but hey, it’s hard to fault someone for becoming more conservative in voting (where it matters, instead of mere campaign speeches, Mssrs. Huckabee and Romney).

So, he’s looking pretty darn conservative. The only problem is that maverick streak I mentioned is on the wrong issues. Campaign finance reform under McCain-Feingold has been a disaster. The immigration thing was wrongheaded. The other problem is that there are my maverick issues: on most gay rights he’s just like the majority of GOP members.

So what I have here I a Republican I can agree with on, say, 65% of issues (and several of my priority issues are among those) versus a Democrat (either one, they believe pretty much the same things) whom I agree with on, say, 15% of issues. The choice for me is clear: 65% > 15%. I can live with president McCain more easily than I can live with President Clinbama.

Pass me a McCain button, it’s time to look towards November.