So I find that there is a lot that I agree with conservatism and a lot I disagree with.  I think right now with conservatives on the defensive, liberals and moderates alike need to listen to their concerns.   We cannot assume that liberal ideas and  ideology is just automatically correct and without fault just because they hold political sway for the moment.  The political pendulum will eventually swing back the other way and liberals will want the same courtesy from their neighbors and representatives alike.

I think the most valid gripe that my conservative friends have with the current administration is spending.  The focus at the white house seems to be “save the economy at all costs.”  I believe debt in general is a very bad thing and its something that I personally struggle with financially.  We have spent billions of dollars of money we don’t have and our government is up to their ears in debt to foreign investors.  This cannot be good.  I realize the logic behind the bailouts was to help the economy and prevent layoffs.  I indeed hope that the auto-bailouts turn out to be a good investment and save jobs.  However the extra accumulated debt makes our country vulnerable to foreign interests and risk of government collapse.  We can’t keep doing this forever.  Bill Clinton, generally considered the liberals favorite, was actually quite conservative on this issue as he fought for and realized a balanced budget during his term.  We have completely undone his work.   Our government is also a partner in the auto-industry, something that I find makes me a little queasy.  Regulation is one thing.  Outright ownership and manipulation of non-government companies is something else entirely.

I am almost sick to death of the debate on healthcare and hesitate to bring it up.    I think most agree that healthcare needs to be reformed and that the largest insurance companies (Cigna, UHC, etc.) currently have a monopoly on the industry.  I have heard too many horror stories of coverage being dropped or claims being denied when something major happens.  I personally know families that cannot get their children on any kind of government program such as CHIPS or Medicaid.  If you visit even an extreme conservative’s website such as Ann Coulter, even they will admit there are problems.

What I feel is happening with this issue through fault on both sides is that more venom is spouted by our politicians than substance.   I’m sorry but a “public option” is not communism or socialism.  Go talk to my brother who took a 6 month tour of Europe or do the same and then you’ll know what true socialism is, with both its warts and benefits.   There are both.  Liberals who think that socialized healthcare is some sort of utopia are just as deluded as conservatives who believe it to be the greatest evil since Stalin.  Nor do I buy into the “slippery slope” argument in any form.    I think a public option is already a good compromise and one of the reasons I voted for Obama.   However now even this possibility is slowly being killed and Obama is allowing it to the point that I no longer know where he stands.   Compromise is great.  A compromise of a compromise of a compromise seems a bit too watered down for even this old moderate.

What i would like to see is to see the public option revived.  It will doubtless be imperfect but should be a lowest common denominator for Americans that cannot get a better form of health insurance.  In fact, while I think it should be available to anyone, there should be some built in costs or limitations that make it desirable for Americans to get on a private insurance plan if available.  At the same time, we should take some conservative advice and reduce some regulation on the health insurance companies that are supposedly stifling competition and enforcing the current monopolies.  I wish I knew more of the details of these regulations but frankly i don’t.  However anything that stops competition is a bad thing in my book.  This could be a good “two-pronged” approach that perhaps gives something to both sides and forces the insurance companies to start behaving.

I doubt this will happen though.  I firmly believe that the big insurance companies like things just the way they are.  They neither want a public option that will lose them customers nor removal of any regulation that will allow some new upstart company to challenge their racket.   I suspect that their lobbyists are fighting on both fronts.

Meanwhile, remember the environment?  Remember all this talk of global warming?   Remember the carbon reduction and renewable energy and new “green” jobs and investment in new technology?  Yeah, neither do I. I could normally criticize the republicans for their silence but its been so long since either side talked about it that I wonder if even Al Gore is  still alive.   Before the election, republicans of the non Palin variety seemed to be slowly coming around and admitting there were problems and proposing conservative approaches to solving the environmental issues.  What do we have now?  Not a peep from either side.  With all the focus on healthcare and the economy, what i consider the 800 pound gorilla of issues has been completely lost in the fray.  Here is another opportunity to take multiple approaches to solving the environmental crisis, both with increased regulation and government investment, and conservative friendly tax incentives to encourage corporations to reduce energy use and pollution.  It doesn’t seem like either is getting done.  For those who doubt that global warming is an issue, there are plenty of other problems to solve–Pollinator decline (we need pollination to continue in order to…you know…grow our food), ocean life is going extinct from over fishing and pollution, landfills are growing with our useless electronic junk, and we’re eventually going to run out of oil and gas, just to name a few.   Pick something and lets try to solve it.  No takers?