Conservatism

There was a lot of hair pulling over minority votes during the recent election. I tend to think that people on both sides of the aisle miss the relevant issue. Take a look at Senator Pete Domenici, who I regret to say represents my home state: "At a Bush-Cheney rally in Farmington on Saturday, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., took a rare public swipe at some prominent Navajo leaders who back Kerry, saying President Joe Shirley Jr. and members of the Tribal Council are "out of touch with reality" and "just don't get it."

In my experience this is a fair representation of conservative rhetoric, in that it is paternalistic and condescending to an extreme. Hey Indians, shut up and let me tell you what should be important to you.

That aside, the reason why I tend to support Democrats is that liberals are open to change, while conservatives support the status quo. The status quo is fine if it's working for you, but if the status quo sucks on your end you tend not to want to hear about why it should be maintained.

Bush added $45 million to diabetes treatment, which is good. But while the federal government is spending half as much (on a per capita basis) on the Indian Health Service as it does providing healthcare for inmates in federal prisons, that's not acceptable. Big picture, people! Or maybe I'm out of touch with reality.