I’ve been thinking lately about the far right wing of the Republican party and of the far left wing of the Democratic party.

To be honest with you I wouldn’t want to belong to either wing.

Let’s start with the far left wing of the Democratic party, which is the one I am least familiar with from personal experience.

These are your ultra-liberals from Hollywood and the various arts groups, the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual and Transgender organizations, the Ladies in Pink, who support just about anything if it’s strange to the mainstream of America, professors at our universities who indoctrinate our college-age children if at all possible and the major news media in this country.

I don’t care about another person’s sexuality, but I don’t want it shoved down my throat and my grandchildren’s throats as an accepted alternate lifestyle. This is an issue that should be handled by the parents at home and not the teachers in the school room.

The Ladies in Pink…well what can I say about them other than they seem to like the spotlight and making fools of themselves in public gatherings. Their purpose in life seems to be to demand what they want as a small child would demand what he wants. Except the small child would get a pop on the bottom after awhile.

Professors should make their students think, but they shouldn’t politically indoctrinate them. Teach the subject and be objective in the grading, even if the student disagrees politically with the professor.

I have no problem with the major newspapers writing opinion pieces as long as they keep them on the opinion pages and not on the front pages posing as news.

They all want to set the agenda and if it isn’t their way it’s the highway. How many times have we read about Moveon.Org stating they won the last election and the Democrats had better do what they want or they won’t support them?

It’s precisely because of these groups that we can’t get a supplemental funding bill for our troops, or any other meaningful legislation passed.

They want us to pull out and never mind the consequences.

Then we have the far right wing of the Republican party that looks for nothing but purity in everything.

They got angry with the president over his nomination of Harriet Miers to SCOTUS (I agree she wasn’t a good candidate), over the Dubai Ports deal (I wasn’t crazy for that either) and illegal immigration.

In the end they got what they wanted except on illegal immigration and there’s the rub.

To them it has to be deportation of all illegals in this country, an electric fence with a moat if possible, and no chance of any immigrants from south of our border to be allowed into this country at all. Of course I joke about the electric fence and the moats but you get my drift.

So what do they do to get their way? They don’t vote and figure that fixes the Republicans, while in the process getting a worse deal from the Democrats, but it’s the “principle” they stand on.

I firmly believe immigration is the reason the Republicans lost both houses of congress last year and it’s been a problem in our country for over 20 years, but somehow it became Bush’s fault.

The right wing will eat their own and are doing it with our president and members of congress.

They will accept no compromise, just as the far left wing of the Democratic party will accept no compromise that has the word bipartisan in it.

When everyone can’t agree on something they usually give a little so they can get something else. That’s how compromise works and it may not be the best solution for everyone’s purposes but it’s the best solution our congress can come up with at the time and we need to accept it.

If you can get 75%-80% of what you are after, can’t you be a little patient and wait for the other 20%-25%, particularly if you are in the minority and in no position to get a better deal?

Being a conservative Republican does not automatically make me a far right-winger anymore than being a Liberal Democrat automatically makes a person a far-left winger.

If most people are like me, they will be conservative on issues they value the most and liberal on other issues they value. No one but the wingers can be straight down-the-line conservative or liberal.

I believe in personal responsibility, which most Republicans believe, but I’ll bet there are many Democrats who believe the same thing.

I happen to believe we have social responsibilities to those less fortunate than we and whether that be with the help of churches, private charities or {gasp!} the government, then I believe those people unable to help themselves should be assured of housing, food, clothing and medical care.

I guess it all depends on what we’ve been exposed to in life. I happened to have been raised on an Indian reservation and saw many people go without necessities due to lack of funds. Somehow we banded together as a community and helped these folks and now their children are self-sufficient.

This does not mean I think we should help every person who is able to work and just doesn’t want to do so, but I think we should provide them with the tools necessary for them to take care of themselves and their families for the rest of their lives. To me, that’s an investment.