Blunt and passionate, down and dirty
February 11, 2007
Michael Smerconish
'You're
headstrong," began a recent e-mail to me. I hoped it meant that I comment
with conviction. Or that I'm intelligent.
Perhaps
it was a statement about my shaved head. More likely, I suspect it had
something to do with my ego. Soon, you can decide for yourself.
I'm
one of the new guys around here. A frequent critic of the very page I have now
been asked to join. "Too predictably liberal too often" has been my
chief complaint.
This
is not to say The Inquirer has brought aboard a Kool-Aid drinker. I may get the
daily GOP talking points, but I rarely parrot them. In 26 years of
uninterrupted voting, I've never pulled a straight party lever, and I'm not
about to start.
Let
me spare you some Googling. I'm about to offer you a primer on the world
according to me. I call it my Suburban Manifesto. You'll quickly see that my
words require no interpretation. I've never had the gift of entertaining and
educating while leaving readers in suspense. With me it's down and dirty. So
let's get started.
I
believe so strongly in the need to profile Islamic terrorists that I wrote a
book on the subject and donated the proceeds to charity.
I
hate political correctness and think that it saps the rugged individualism that
has been the hallmark of our nation. P.C. represents a cancer that has now
metastasized into the war on terror, where it threatens our very survival. I
have written a book about that, too.
I
recently traveled to Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and elsewhere within the embrace
of Cent-Com - and I came home concerned that our military has given up the
intense manhunt for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri for fear of ruffling
feathers in Pakistan.
I'm
for torturing terrorists who possess information. To those who say,
"Torture doesn't work," I ask: Then why do our best interrogators
continually seek to use it as a technique?
For
two years, I've called for a timetable for exiting Iraq so as to light a fire
under the asses of those (i.e., the Iraqis) who need to determine their own
fates. I'm offended by the expression cut and run and think that if anything is unpatriotic, it's not
affording our soldiers an explanation of how their mission will end.
I
think our borders are porous and need to be closed. Only when they are sealed
should we make decisions as to what to do with the millions who are already
here illegally.
I
have a wife and four children, but do not believe that homosexuals threaten my
union. Heterosexual marriages have their own troubles, having nothing to do
with whether we let same-sex couples formalize their relationships.
I
wish there were a political party with room in its tent for pro-life and
pro-choice views. I think the contraceptive drug Plan B should be sold over the
counter to individuals 18 and older. And I surely don't want politicians
determining my end-of-life plan.
I'm
for embryonic stem-cell research. I don't equate a group of cells in a Petri
dish with a viable fetus, and I wonder why, if folks are so concerned about the
destruction of such "life," they don't seek to ban the discarding of
excess embryos at fertility clinics.
Speaking
of life, I am willing to pull the switch personally on Mumia.
I
question whether many of our professional politicians could earn a living on
the outside - and I'd like to find out. Two terms in the Senate and six in the
House should be the max.
Campaign-finance
reform is a contradiction in terms.
I say we let anyone spend whatever they can raise to affect the outcome of a
race, as long as there is full and immediate disclosure, and voters can react
accordingly.
I
fear that entitlements will economically cripple my kids. Social Security,
Medicare and other entitlements make up more than half of our federal spending,
and the number of people receiving them is growing. Time to confront AARP: The
retirement age in this country needs to be raised to 70.
Balanced
budget should not be two dirty
words.
Death
taxes are un-American. Why, when we check out, should Uncle Sam be standing there
with his hand out to tax our earnings for the second time? The estate tax must
end.
I
think the planet is getting warmer. I don't know how much of that is due to
humans, or what we can do about it, but given the stakes, I think we should err
on the side of taking precautions.
I
believe guns are a symptom, not a cause of our problems. Single-parent
households pose more of a threat to safety than firearms.
More
to come. Label me at your peril. For now, I'll stick with headstrong.
Michael Smerconish can be heard from 5:30 to 9
a.m. weekdays on "The Big Talker," WPHT-AM (1210). Contact him via
the Web at www.mastalk.com.