Confessions of a recovering Republican

Someone once quipped "if you're not a liberal at 20, you've no heart; if you're not a conservative at 35, you have no sense." I'm 36 and neither, so what the heck am I supposed to do?

Political labels are breaking down, stretched past the point of usefulness by decades of 'triangulating' on the part of the two major parties. The famous assertion "there's not a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats" is still largely true, though that dime might need updating to account for Federal Reserve-driven inflation. The difference is mainly this: The GOP is driving the country toward the cliff at the speed limit; the Democrats would merely floor the accelerator. Certainly, neither is conservative in the traditional sense. One look at George W.'s prescription drug benefit plan, or the Democrats' "broadband internet access for everyone!" pledge is enough to confirm that. Constitution? Eh, what's that?

Some say the two-party system has been a hallmark of American political stability. Maybe, maybe not. Today that stability means a bifactional socialist system that recognizes no Constitutional limits on any power it deems expedient at the moment. See what you will, but Rome pretended to be a Republic long after Julius jumped the Rubicon.

I'm from a family with deep roots in the South. I was the first to register Republican. Silly me for believeing all that "small, 10th-Ammendment-friendly gov't" talk. Reagan tried (but failed). Gingrich lied (but succeeded in his purposes). And now a strict constructionist is a nearly a political orphan.

You can't conserve what's already gone. And I certainly don't want liberal doses of more of the same.

I suppose there's only one appropriate word for someone today whose heart still races at the words "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." Revolutionary. Worked for them in 1776...