BART REPLIES: A few posts ago, my pal Bart and I were trying to make sense of W.'s disdain for same-sex marriage. Anyhow, Bart has just weighed in (within the netherworld of my "Comments" feature) with some new thoughts, and I think they're sound enough to deserve a broader airing. I'm not going to bother picking through his words this time. I'll simply say he and I are more on the same page than not right now, and I respect his even tone. So...here's Bart (with extremely mild editing/formatting for easier reading):

Scott, I feel your pain. It is tremendously difficult for anyone with an intelligent, informed viewpoint to find a person or party to support. Unfortunately the apathetic response of "they all suck" inevitably leads to even greater lunacy which means that like or it not those who choose to educate ourselves must grip our nose tightly and wade deeper into the pile of shit that passes for political debate these days.

Regarding your response to my post I can't disagree with your contention that all people make decisions beased upon reasonable cost - I just dispute what the equation is actually based on. I tend to agree with you that Bush is not sitting up at night calculating political variables - like him or not, Bush is clearly a man of great principle. He decides upon a course of action and follows through regardless of the potential cost to him or others -he does what he thinks is right. This is what served him so well in the months after 9/11. However the same attribute that is so effective in war (in many ways a black or white issue - especially in Afghanistan people truly were for or against us)can be a tremendous detriment when it comes to more nuanced situations (arguably almost every other challenge that we've dealt with as a nation). Clinton, for all of his many faults, was unbelievably adept at recognizing the various sides of an issue and working to resolve them in ways that would allow all sides to claim at least partial victory. This is one of the main reasons that many hard core conservatives hated him so passionately- in their eyes America demeaned istelf whenever it adopted a position that was anything other than 100% pro-american (I am overgeneralizing, of course, but damnit this post is already too long). George Bush works much more decisively - his support for the FMA fits this pattern perfectly. In his worldview homosexuality=bad, christianity =good, therefore FMA. The fact that it is completely at odds with his expressed conservative bent never enters the equation.

In my mind the true greatness of this country lies in its long established core principles: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In my mind we went to war in Afghanistan not only to protect our borders but to protect our way of life from a group of people who would run rough-shod over all that I hold most important: men (and it is all men) who would proscribe for me my type of worship, who would tell me how, when and where I should gather, who would argue that religion trumps science (Georgia Board of Education, anyone?), who would limit the potential of my daughter or sister or wife to advance in her chosen field, who would choose to marginalize people based solely upon their choice of religion, or nationality, or skin color, or sexual orientation, who would hold back social progress because it doesn't fir into their particular world view. That is what I am willing to fight against and that is unfortunately what am I seeing happening in my own country. People who have sworn to uphold the Constitution are instead using it as a political tool and that to me is damn close to criminal. I don't agree with everything that the democrats stand for but if it's a choice between paying an extra 5% a year in taxes or having John Ashcroft decide how I should live my life well for me the answer is simple. The most important thing that I have is my self-determination and everytime I see this administration ham-handedly try to reduce it reminds me again and again why I'll do everything that I can to make certain that W is a one term president.