Thoughts From the Radically Moderate

Vacation All I ever wanted


That's right, I'm leaving. It's not actually vacation though...I'm going to Tampa Bay, Florida for a missions trip with my church. Please pray for me and my group and we go down to one of the hottest places in Florida. I'm worried about people dehydrating and what not, but I hope it all works out. We're going to be doing various work around the city. I'll be gone for about a week, so don't expect any posts any time soon. Thanks, and wish me luck.

AP POLL: REPUBLICANS IN DANGER OF LOSING CONGRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November.

With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they'll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn't bode well for the Republicans.

Read the full story here.

This doesn't look good for the Republicans that's for sure. I'd love to finally see the Democrats in power. While I haven't been too impressed with their performance as a minority, I'd sure like to see what they can do with a majority in at least one chamber of congress. Than again, this IS just a poll. Look at the polls that showed Howard Dean winning the primary. Any thoughts?

Chapter of the Day:A New Liberalism

I plan on giving a brief summary of every chapter that I read in Peter Beinart's The Good Fight. In the first chapter, Beinart takes us back in time to the split of the Democratic party--the liberal civil war. The war between communists and communist sympathizers against anti-communist liberals. The first chapter basically takes us through time and describes the developments and changes in the Democratic Party. The first chapter is really about fighting totalitarianism at home as well as abroad. The Liberal belief at the time was this: The more freedom and liberty we have at home provides more stability in international affairs advocating for liberty against communism. It pointed out specific examples like Civil Rights and allowing communist to live in the United States. This is certainly proving to be a good book. Unlike a lot of political books where I feel like the author is speaking to me, in this book, I feel like I am a part of the story and that I'm not listening to Beinart, but I'm in the midst of the history. Anyways, enough out of me. That's what I've read so far, and I'll be giving updates on the second chapter tommorrow.

THE GOOD FIGHT--WHY LIBERALS AND ONLY LIBERALS CAN WIN THE WAR ON TERROR AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

Today is a great day! I had ordered Peter Beinart's new book The Good Fight on Saturday and it came in today. I plan on doing a lot of reading in the next few days from Beinarts book.

Beinarts new book is about a liberal approach to winning the War on Terror and gives the Democratic party ideas and a spring board for a plan in Iraq and for the War on Terror. Here is the summary on the book cover:

Once upon a time, liberals knew what they believed. They believed America must lead the world by persuasion, not command. And they believed that by championing freedom overseas, America itself could become more free. That liberal spirit won America's trust at the dawn of the cold war. Then it collapsed in the wake of Vietnam. Now, after 9/11, and the failed presidency of George W. Bush, America needs it back.

In this powerful and provocative book, Peter Beinart offers a new liberal vision, based on principles liberals too often forget: That America's greatness cannot simply be asserted; it must be proved. That to be good, America does not have to be pure. That American leadership is not American empire. And that liberalism cannot merely define itself against the right, but must fervently oppose the totalitarianism that blighted Europe a half century ago, and which stalks the Islamic world today.

With liberals severed from their own history, conservatives have drawn on theirs — the principles of national chauvinism and moral complacency that America once rejected. The country will reject them again, and embrace the creed that brought it greatness before. But only if liberals remember what that means. It means an unyielding hostility to totalitarianism — and a recognition that defeating it requires bringing hope to the bleakest corners of the globe. And it means understanding that democracy begins at home, in a nation that does not merely preach about justice, but becomes more just itself.

Peter Beinart's The Good Fight is a passionate rejoinder to the conservatives who have ruled Washington since 9/11. It is an intellectual lifeline for a Democratic Party lying flaton its back. And it is a call for liberals to revive the spirit that swept America, and inspired the world.

You can watch Beinart defend and describe his new book on Book TV

Or, you can read a debate he had with David Horowitz sponsored by Front Page Magazine.

I'll give you guys updates on the book as I read it.

This is my first time ever having a blog, so bare with me. I suppose the best way to start out is by telling a little about myself. I am Sam Blatt, a 15 year old Sophmore at Western High School in Indiana. I probably take politics more seriously than anything besides God, and even then my political passion rivals Christ. (I don't think that's a good thing by the way) As politics is one of my biggest passions, I will be writing about political events, and what not on this blog. Please feel free to post comments and your own opinions since you are entitled to them.

I have always been on the "left" side of things in politics. My dad would talk about politics before I was old enough to quite understand what he was saying, and of course he was a liberal Democrat so I grew up thinking he was right. About the time I was 12 or 13 I stumbled across a political message board and decided to stick around and post a little bit. I learned a lot about politics from that AOL political message board, and I stayed on that until I was 14, and still talk to all the friends I made there. About the time I joined that AOL board, the Iraq war broke out and I was thrown into the political mess. I used to sit by a kid namd Ryan Nees on the bus going home from School, and he would talk about politics and the war, and how it was ridiculous. I became even more liberal listening to Ryan and absorbing what he said. By the way, Ryan has now filmed a documentary about our Mayor, sued the Mayor...and won, and is now a political figure in local politics. (and he's only 16)

However, as I grew older and began developing my own opinions, I realized that the Democrats weren't perfect, and that they were wrong on issues as well. I became a more moderate Democrat, a DLC Democrat. An Evan Bayh, Barrack Obama Democrat. So I began taking viewpoints from both sides of the isle and forming my own, unique opinion of the political world. I am no longer a liberal, but I'm not a conservative. I am radically moderate, and this is my blog.