Joining

No real news to report.  I've done a little bit of research and I'm interested in the Republican Liberty Caucus.  This seems to be the Goldwater/Paul wing of the Republican party.  I've read through their Statement of Principles and can buy into most of it.

I do, however, have some reservation about becoming a big "R" Republican again.  I've been fairly comfortable the last several years not being a member of any political party.  I'm just not sure I can move forward and be able to affect change without joining.

I'm also a bit concerned about my ability to actually do anything with the RLC here is south Alabama.  The state chapter is in Birmingham and I don't think there is a local group.  I don't know if I'm ready to be a leader at this point and try and start anything here in Mobile.  I'm much more comfortable joining an existing group.  I'll keep looking.

 -JJA

Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss

I'm dusting off my virtual soapbox because I am politically frustrated and I don't know what to do about it. It seems like both major parties are arguing about the degree to which they want to continue bad policies, rather than looking for fresh ideas and leading the country in accepting them.

I didn't vote for either Romney or Obama because when it came right down do it, on civil liberties and foreign policy there was no significant difference in their positions. As for the economy, to the extent that a president has the power to affect it, we would have just been trading one type of crony capitalism for another.

I've thought about formally joining the Libertarian party, but we have to face the fact that third party candidates will rarely be taken seriously and will win politically even less often.  I'm leaning toward finding a liberty oriented group (one focused on less government and more freedoms) and trying to make a difference there.  Maybe it will be within the Republican party or maybe it'll be a non-partisan organization, I'm not really sure what my options are at the moment.  I just know I want to do more than just complain.

If anyone has ideas or suggestions, I'm definitely open to them.

 -JJA

The Mind of Jihad

This is a kind of rambling post…stream of consciousness with punctuation.

Obviously, I don’t think like a terrorist.  The idea that I’m willing to kill myself to punish people who don’t think like me seems somewhere on the other side of insanity.  But even when we set aside the religious fanaticism; I’m still baffled.

Why do they continue to try and blow up airplanes?

It seems to me that there are so many targets that would be significantly “softer” than international fights.  A mall at Christmas.  A St. Patrick’s Day parade.  A high school football game.  Granted, a terrorist still has to get into the country and build his explosive device, but if you want to instill terror in the greater population imagine what would happen if five or ten grocery stores blew up simultaneously.

And that brings me to my point.  You can’t fight a “war on terror” any more than you can fight a war on bullets.  Terror is a weapon not an enemy.  The real enemy is a culture of Islamic intolerance at war with the modern world and modern values.  We, in the West, are not the true targets of this war.  The true targets are the reform minded men and women in the Islamic world and the people they persuade.

I do believe military power needs to be a part of this conflict.  The Islamic fanatics will continue to prove their strength by causing pain to the modern world.  However, there needs to be pressure put on the “moderate” Muslim to condemn the fanatics.  There are more than 1.5 billion adherents to Islam.  Surely there are strong, charismatic members of the faith that can stand up against the idea of jihad.

As an atheist, there is a part of me that says, “See, this is what worshiping imaginary people gets you.”  But that isn’t very constructive.  Islam is at war with itself.  The 21st century versus the 10th.

America and the West need to stop thinking that we are the focus of this battle.  The Cobra Commander types of attacks against us are designed to inspire and recruit more fundamentalists, not destroy our way of life.  We need to be an ally to the modern Muslim world, such that it exists.

So after writing all that maybe I do think a little like a terrorist and I’m not so baffled by the continued attempts to hit the hard targets.

-Jay

Ummm, okay.

I’m not really sure what to say about this, but I’ll add two links.

Here is the Whole Comic (PDF)

Here's What Happens When Government Officials Have the Time to Write Comic Books

-Jay