MODERATION: THE NEW DIRTY WORD?

I remember the days when I was pleased to call myself "a moderate Republican". Whatever happened to that appelation? What happened was the extreme right wing of the Republican party took over and decided, in their cockiness after the 2004 election, that there was not room for anybody who didn't espouse the sacred principles IN TOTAL of the G.O.P.: fiscal conservatism, pro-life, pro-war in Iraq, unrestrained free markets, et. al. I became increasingly aware that I was not fitting into the Republican corset and was beginning to find it too suffocating. Mind you, I was not quite ready to call myself a Democrat, but I found myself more and more on their side on many issues. The term "independent" still had currency for me.

Now I note that one of the true moderates, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, has bolted the Republican party, partially for the pragmatic reason that he sees his ass being whipped by a very conservative nominee for Republicans to run against him in the Republican primary and, to some degree, because he finds himself isolated by his disageement with so many of his right-wing peers. Senator Olympia Snow, one of the true Republican moderates, decrying the unnecessary loss of Specter, noted in the New York Times today: "We can't continue to fold our philosophical tent into an umbrella under which only a select few are worthy to stand. Rather, we should view an expansion of diversity within the party as a triumph that will broaden our appeal." AMEN.

A party that today stands as strictly ANTI and offers no true PRO solutions to the economic crisis of today and limits its membership only to those who totally espouse their every principle is doomed to fail. It is incumbent upon a party in opposition to offer an alternative plan which offers their version of solutions, those positive actions to make things happen.

Until the Republican party offers solutions and not just criticism, they have lost me---and. I'm sure, a lot of others who at one time were unashamed of being termed moderates. Any resemblance to the G.O.P. I once knew is purely coincidental. Has "moderation" become a dirty word? Funny, I thought it had more than four letters!