Checking In

Nothing new to work with in the newspaper again... I wonder if the well has run dry. I doubt I could be that lucky, though. It will be a great day indeed when I'm forced to stop blogging due to lack of relevant material. I'll just keep waiting, and please forgive me if I remain quiet as I do so. There are others who do political commentary blogs far better than I could, and I enthusiastically recommend those listed to the right.

I finally saw "Good Night and Good Luck" tonight. I know a lot of people have been holding up this movie as a battle cry against the radical right, and understandably so. It was a fantastic movie, and desperately needed. Regardless, I came away thoroughly depressed. While one can certainly draw parallels between the McCarthy period and today, one element is notably lacking: the value of integrity. Politicians no longer even pretend to have it, and we, collectively, don't hold them to it. It was integrity that won the day and conquered McCarthy. It is a weapon I'm afraid has been removed from the table since.

I believe in integrity first and foremost. If we do not cherish integrity, not one word that passes from mouth to ear is worth the spit it accompanied. It is for this reason that I am abandoning the Republican Party. It no longer, in any way, represents any of the values I hold dear. The GOP cares nothing for integrity, honor, discipline, freedom, or responsibility, and having abandoned those values, they have abandoned me as well. This is not a condemnation of every registered Republican, but the party as a whole, as represented by its elected politicians and its allies in the media. My leaving will cause them no hardship, and I am not foolish or self-important enough to believe otherwise. It is nothing more than a symbolic gesture on my part, but one I need to make to preserve something I still cling to. I do it, after long pause and careful consideration, to maintain my integrity.