Jack Murphy has been submitting occasional opinion pieces to the West Ranch Beacon for several months. Starting last week, Jack will have regular Friday opinion piece on our blog site titled “My view from the bleacher seats in SCV”. As a reminder, Jack’s opinions are his and do not necessarily reflect those of the West Ranch Beacon or its other contributors.
In my continuing effort to find out what a true moderate is I routinely visit my new friends at their local SCV blog sites. Tootsie Farklepants at http://liberalkudoscorner.blogspot.com/ and over at Matt’s site, http://www.bluesantaclarita.blogspot.com/. These are two liberal Democrat sites that reflect not only the feelings of the writers but their audience as well. There are other sites here locally, but they do not reflect the local flavor as these folks do. As for the other sites round town, their authors and writers are interested in their own opinions and no one else’s. They don’t read the other blogs and disparage the writers of other sites as nuts or wackos. Yet their sites offer no conflicting points of view and often tend to be harsher towards the opposition. Imagine Sean Hanidity with-out Combs but instead with Rush Limbaugh. Fun for a while but what’s the point? Debate is more fun and actually accomplishes things. But to be sure the “other” sites are not interested or invested, they mostly cut and paste from National News wires. Visit the two named sites above for a great taste of the Democrat points here in the Valley, they don’t cut and paste. They write like we do here in The Beacon.
I note these sites for you because I feel it is very important for you all to go there and explore and read. Both are very well written and the writers are very passionate. As with me you may not agree with all that they write, but I hope you find it an important part of your political maturation on a daily basis. You see, in order to actually be a moderate you have to be able to appreciate how others feel. You may not agree with them but you have to accept the fact that other people have opinions and that their opinions are important too. And recognize that many others offer the same opinion as them and one day those opinions may prevail in local and National politics. You have to be able to accept and move on. Dot org.
I go back to my original statement. A moderate is someone who places the good of the people before the good of the party. Period. I can think of a few politicians on the National stage that are moderates to me. Joe Lieberman is one for sure. Joe votes and speaks his mind and what he believes. It will never win him a presidential election as a result but he cares more about the policy then the position. Mark Warner is another. When he speaks you can see he is talking about policy and not politics. I may not agree with them, but It is so clear with these two men what they feel deeply. On the other side of the isle is Tom Tancredo. Yes, everyone’s favorite Republican to hate. Why? Because he talks policy over politics. Always has. The Republicans are mad at him and so are the Democrats. That’s the mark of a policy man not a politician. Not my kind of Republican however.
Locally here in SCV, lets look at the person everyone likes. Maria Guitziet. I have never personally met Maria, but I know her husband well enough. I respect her. I respect her opinion and I respect her philosophy. She is smart and dedicated and everyone knows that. She places policy above politics and it shows in her professionalism and skill. Have you ever met someone that said Maria is bias or out of the main stream? Nope. Not I either. That’s what we need more of here in the Valley. People Like Maria. I don’t care what Maria thinks about the Iraq wart or abortion or tax’s at this point. What I see is a smart lady who is open to new ideas and suggestions and puts forth policy based facts not fiction.
I am waiting for the person in my party to step forward and be “that” person. The person that everyone respects. Whether they agree with the base political foundation of that person or not, they respect her/him. There is nothing wrong with debate as it is healthy and usually leads to better well thought-out decisions. Is it Mark Hershey or Dwight McDonald in the GOP? Or is it Bill Kennedy? I don’t know.
Let’s find that person before the next election.
Jack Murphy
Political Commentator