I was going to stay out of this but...
I love this quote because I think it hits the nail on the head...
If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by age 40, you have no brain.
From my observation, it is true and is the difference between democrats and republicans. Democrats jump on whatever bandwagon is popular that day and propose knee jerk fixes without analyzing the problems/causes or possible repercussions of their solutions. I have mentioned some examples before, MTBE is a good one. They want to appear like they are helping the poor but their policies often just make the problems worse as they put bandaids over the causes.
Republicans tend to be longer term visionaries. Right or wrong, they put policies/strategies in place with a long term goal in mind.
Example, Iraq war. 9/11 happened and Iraq had nothing to do with it. At the time, we didn't have fracking and the oil outlook was looking bleak. I was long oil because the reports were that Mexican wells were peaking, the Saudies were pumping sea water in their wells trying to milk out the last drops. New discoveries were down and there just wasn't going to be enough output from anywhere to bridge our needs. Enter Iraq. We went in there for their oil. I have no doubt in my mind. Bush/Cheney were oil men and knew the situation we were in. Was it wrong, yes. Strategically important for the US? Yes, for what the consensus was at the time.
Same with the cold war. Truman, Johnson, Carter were weak, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan strong.
Look at now. Green energy being pushed hard even though it isn't feasible with current technology, no standardization as to best methods or plan on how to get raw materials and recycle used up equipment. Knee jerk reaction to problem as usual. Banning straws while ordering online ready to eat meals delivered in plastic containers.
Dems are tactical while Repubs are strategic. |
