We need a third party. Fiscal conservatives who believe in free markets, smaller government, less welfare etc.. a more US first policy (Forget protecting krauts etc.. or paying UN dues) Republicans seem so damned focued on bible thumping and abortion to the exclusion of everything else it seems.
I would tend to agree. The entire economy is going down the tubes, we are losing our competitive educational edge, and we have a dollar that has declined 50% over the last 7 years of Bush with HUGE Budget Deficits and unbridled discretionary spending by a Congress that has been REPUBLICAN up until recently. The whole evangelical thing has gotten a bit old. It certainly allowed Karl Rove to turn the tide of the Election towards Bush when he got all of those ultra-conservatives off their couches and to the polls back in Ohio during the last election. The deciding issue for them was "Family Values" and putting the fear in their heads that gay-marriage was right around the corner and a significant issue . . . using San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome as the lightning rod for their fears. As a result, Ohio votes for Bush even though the unemployment rate ( as manufacturing jobs went overseas ) in Ohio went through the roof. Go figure.
Fear is a powerful message, and the central religious drive. Eastern societies still are entangled in "shame society", while western society because of the abrahamic religions - particularly still obvious in USA - is entangled in "guilt society", or "fear society" especially with the regards to how children are raised resulting in a constant stream of mental patients, spiritual and psychiatric services needed... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame_society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt_society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions Sociology and anthropology is also fun, but systems theory is even more interesting.