Just getting started

Guess someone had to be the last one to post. In my defense, I was out of town all week doing locum tenens work (substitute doctoring) for a pediatrician on vacation.

I'm really impressed by your mission to meet all of the candidates. Wish I had that much drive, not to mention free time. Personally, I usually go out of my way to avoid politicians (and lawyers, which most politicians are, of course) :0). Maybe it's the doctor in me.

First thing I wanted to do was to clarify the spelling of my name. First, Mickey is good enough; but, if the Zucker and Reichert are attached, it's not hyphenated. That's important for me as a writer, because I want people to know to look on the bookshelf under "R" rather than "Z" to find me (hint: everyone run out and do that right now, OK?)

I'm learning the political stuff by reading and listening to the news, checking sources on-line, and talking with other people, which I realize can be dangerous in and of itself. I try to make sure I receive balanced coverage -- have to listen to the major networks AND Fox, NPR AND Rush Limbaugh. Go figure.

I consider myself a radical centrist -- MODERATION OR ELSE! Seriously, though, I figure I'm smart enough to look at both sides as well as the whole picture and to know things are not always as they appear. I take my own position on every issue, without any bias but my own. Sometimes it jibes with the Democrats, sometimes with the Rebuplicans; but it doesn't always jibe with either side of the equation. It entertains me to watch intelligent Democrats become horrified by things a Republican does, then write off a Democrat doing the same thing as insignificant. Ditto the Republicans, of course. It blows my mind when Republicans berate Democrats for too much legislating, then demand that we have laws against such things as homosexual marriage or flag burning. It is equally galling to me when a Democrat stands on a pulpit demanding free speech, then denies that the people booing him or calling him "unpatriotic" have the same right to free speech.

The amazing inconsistency of both parties is amusing and scary, and it often seems as if a party takes a side purely to be opposite the other. A war is good and just if your party is in power, evil and dastardly if the other one is. I just happen to hate hypocrisy, and it is rampant in politics. Did you ever notice, for example, that the celebrities who scream most loudly about a cause (say the environment or gun control) are usually the worst offenders? The environmental activist flies in a private plane to give his speech. The gun control activist carries a concealed pistol or travels with body guards. The actress railing about "feeding starving children" eats at four star restaurants along the way.

I don't think "middle of the road" is really a proper description of moderates, at least not me. We can be downright radical on some issues. I consider it more a matter of choosing a well-researched, well-educated stance on every issue that transcends a specific party. That way, for example, I can be for honesty and against marital infidelity without necessarily believing my children should start each morning with a formal prayer. I don't find myself defending things I know are morally wrong because my candidate is the one who performed the act. I don't have to defend the undefendable or support the unsupportable, and I don't have to rationalize my positions with ridiculous dichotomies such as "love the sinner hate the act" or "support the soldiers not the war."

I think I've said enough for now.

Mickey