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RINOcracy

Blog No. 5 Whither the War on Terror? Part I: The President’s Vision

On May 23, President Obama gave a major speech on what has commonly been referred to as the War on Terror. The New York Times hailed it as “the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America.”  The Wall Street Journal took a symmetrically negative view, but described it as “one of the more memorable speeches of [the Obama] Presidency… or for that matter any recent President.”  Yet only a few weeks later, the speech has been swept from not only the front pages, but the editorial and op-ed pages and, no doubt, from most of the public consciousness.Read More »Blog No. 5 Whither the War on Terror? Part I: The President’s Vision

Blog No. 4 Olympia Snowe: RINO of the Year?

Olympia Snowe book cover 2013After Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chaffee departed from the Republican Party, Olympia Snowe and her fellow Senator from Maine, Susan Collins, remained as the most prominent Republicans to be termed RINOs. Now Senator Snowe has left the Senate in frustration over its addiction to gridlock, and has embarked on a campaign to promote the cause of bipartisanship. In that effort, she has published a book, Fighting for Common Ground, and created a website, Olympia’s List.org to “provide a gathering point for all of us who believe our elected officials need to put the country ahead of politics, to facilitate the distribution of news about activities taking place to further that goal, and to identify and support like-minded candidates and office holders.” Along with her devotion to bipartisanship, however, Senator Snowe has also made it explicitly clear that she remains a proud Republican, dedicated to the traditional principles of our party: “limited government, strong defense, lower taxes, and individual freedom and opportunity.” (Senator Snowe has not yet, so far as I know, embraced the label “RINO” as a badge of honor, but if RINOcracy.com can attract enough followers, perhaps she will come to that.)Read More »Blog No. 4 Olympia Snowe: RINO of the Year?

Blog No. 1 Sexual Assaults in the Military

Is there anyone who does not believe that the disclosures of sexual assaults in the military are appalling? The official Pentagon report, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, indicated that, between 2010 and 2012, reported incidents of sexual assaults had increased from 3,192 to 3,374. Even more troubling is the fact that many sexual assaults go unreported, resulting in an estimate that the total number of sexual assaults rose from 19,300 to 26,000. Public concern with the issue has been heightened by a compelling documentary, The Invisible War, the report of a criminal conviction by a military court being overturned by a commanding general, and by the recent arrest, on charges of sexual assault, of the very officer, Lt. Col Jeffrey Kusinski, who had been in charge of the Air Force’s program to prevent sexual assaults.Read More »Blog No. 1 Sexual Assaults in the Military

Blog No. 2 Taxes, Spending and the Deficit

A development in Congress last week seemed peculiar even by the standards of that troubled institution. For years, Republicans have been complaining – quite reasonably – about the failure of the Senate to pass a budget. Pass a budget, they said, and proceed with the process of negotiating a reconciliation of the budget passed by the House in the ordinary way. Now that the Senate has, after four years, finally passed a budget, three Republicans in the Senate, self-styled “tea-party conservatives,” have blocked the appointment of a Conference Committee to do exactly what the Republicans had been demanding. Senator John McCain’s description of that tactic as “bizarre” seems altogether fitting.Read More »Blog No. 2 Taxes, Spending and the Deficit

WELCOME to RINOcracy!

This is a website for RINOs.

For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to the political world, RINO is a term sometimes applied to Republicans who are deemed insufficiently committed to this or that “principle” of the current Republican Party. Hence, in their view: Republicans In Name Only. While intended as a term of derision (or worse), it is a label I bear proudly. As I wrote in a letter to the New York Times published in April 2013, my motto is: “RINOs, let us unite and put our hides on the line to save our party from itself.” Bold words, I later thought, but apart from the occasional letter to the editor, what am I doing about it? This blog is the answer. A very small step indeed, but possibly one that might encourage others.Read More »WELCOME to RINOcracy!