I perused a copy of Metro Pulse while waiting on Alpha and Gamma to seemingly try on every pair of jeans in a store yesterday, and was intrigued by an article that seemed to have been written just for me.

Time ran out before I could finish reading, so I pulled it up online this morning. It feels like it was written just for me. So, if you’ve experienced some discomfort about political parties lately, go read Flanking on the Right.

You remember him, I bet. It seems like he was here just the other day. He usually wore a blue suit and a sensible tie. His main concerns were lower taxes, less government, but still he knew some public works were important and somebody had to pay for them. The Tennessee Republican’s politics were moderate, often progressive, and above all, sensible. To get what he wanted, or a good part of it, he could make you a deal. He knew that making deals was the heart of a successful business, and of successful government. The main thing that separated him from the wild-eyed liberal Democrat was that he was a pragmatic fellow. He liked to keep his politics, like the art on his walls, realistic.

Except for use of the masculine prounoun, this fits me. I came to align myself with the Republican party on the principles articulated in the Republican Philosophy — things like “the government closest to the people is the best,” or “government should do only those things that people cannot do, or cannot do well, for themselves.” It is my belief in a strong national defense, a free-market economy, and limited government interference that has traditionally led me to identify with the Republican party.

If you haven’t done so yet, read the article. Yes, I know what the right-wing bloggers think of Metro Pulse, but if you are at all interested in polical philosophy, this one nails it. A couple more noteworthy clips are:

“I see it as a problem for the country in that the candidates tend to focus on issues that may not have much to do with their constituents’ lives. Flag-burning, gay marriage—I may feel like they do about those issues,” he says, as the conservative he is. But he adds that those emotional flashpoint issues aren’t affecting people’s real lives—“They’re not eating up America like the war, the economy, and gas prices.” True enough, few East Tennesseans have ever witnessed either a flagburning or a gay marriage. [John Schmid]

and

A young Republican businessman attending the Republican rally admits he has nothing against abortion. “I’m not interested in legislating morality,” he says. “To me, it’s a moral issue, not a government issue.” Of the pro-life faction in his party, he says, “It’s a small group, but it’s the loudest. It’s like everybody thinks all Islamic people are terrorists. It’s only a small percentage. But they’re the loudest.”

But there is hope. The closing paragraph comes from Howard Baker, whom many of us would uphold as the Dean of Tennessee Republicans:

Howard Baker, now 80 years old, is still a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz, which has offices in downtown Knoxville and the former senator’s home town of Huntsville. He is recovering from back surgery and was not available to comment for this article. But at a Memphis Downtown Rotary Club meeting last October, responding to a question about the right-wing tendencies of his party, he answered that he expected the GOP “will right itself” from its ultra-conservative leanings. Concerning the party’s current tilt, he added, “That’s not permanent. The party system’s going to survive it…. Cyclical changes will prevent any permanent pattern of extremism. Change may seem far off, but it’s just around the corner.”

We’ll see. I surely hope he’s right.