The theme for this presidential year may be: coalition splitting.
On the Democratic side, I see a rift developing between two of the major legs of the base -- white women and African-Americans. The Barack-Hillary race could bring this to a head, probably in South Carolina.
On the GOP side, I have been stunned by the viciousness with which much of the "conservative" base hates Mike Huckabee (it's been clear for some time that Republicans despise their Libertarian cohort, represented by Ron Paul -- after all, Libertarians expose the GOP for what it has become: a big government, corporatist party.) I think that Huckabee in many ways poses the same problem, exposing the Republican Party for its phoniness on the issue of religion (in fact, much of the base despises and looks down upon evangelical Christians, much as liberal secularists do). Huckabee also exposes the idea of "compassionate conservatism" for the fraud that it is. Huckabee, as a traditional Christian, favors aid the poor, comfort to the afflicted, peace rather than war, and all the other tenets of the Book of Matthew. The bulk of the GOP do not. They despise the poor almost as much as they despise evangelical, "do gooder" Christians, and they only find use for the latter around election time -- when they use them as brazenly as Democrats use (and then ignore) African-Americans.
What's interesting about this year is that the veil appears to have fallen away from the eyes of many voters, who now see their own parties for the frauds that they are. Blacks are waking up to Democratic benign neglect and plantationism, in this case represented by the Clinton assumption that "their folks" will come along (aided by Black elected officials). For Republican "SoCons" (social conservatives), the realization has been harder hitting, with President Bush leading the let-down by failing to push for a single cause evangelicals hold dear (I've been trying to tell you folks that your Methodist president never had any such intentions on gay marriage or abortion. Methodists just aren't that motivated. I know, I was one...) And if the war in Iraq, the headlong rush toward corporatocracy and the abandonment of the compassionate conservative agenda hasn't sobered up the churchy set, the all-out war on Mike Huckabee should, in short order.
All that's left now, is the voting. Will people vote by rote, or will they vote their convictions? The candidates are on the edge of their seats, which is exactly where they should be.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
