Washington Post 06/04/2006 | Political pros borrow plot from `The West Wing'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201543.html

This David Broder article resonated with my deepening political ennui. I love policy, but I find myself frustrated after the 2nd or 3rd sentence offered on most issues by any of the political leadership. I get frustrated even sooner when they're talking about the political opposition.

I used to proudly describe myself as a knee-jerk Republican, and I sure do love the starting principle of being a nation of laws even when "fairness" is unpopular. But I'm becoming deeply aware of the missing component that Republicans more than simply ignore - the party establishment is actually hostile to using national public policy to solve problems related to poverty, especially hunger and healthcare.

The Unity08 movement seems unlikely with the current lineup of likely and announced candidates, but I would be eager to find a true synthesis ticket. I'll keep my ideology, they can work on the easy stuff like national defense and the decline of American influence in the world, then in 8-10 years we'll have a country unified enough to really tackle the big problems and questions. First on my list is how can we keep our liberty and still be a loving people, so we can freely choose to share the burden of the poor.