I am a Democrat, a proud Liberal. When President Obama stood took his oath that cold, wintry morning in Washington D.C., I thought here’s the beginning of something great. I have not been disappointed. The changes that the Obama administration has brought about in this past year has been commendable; though not perfect, it is still a direction I can get behind. But more and more, it seems though the Other Half – the Republican Party – has been doing all it can to stomp down progress and change. Instead of contributing to the transformation and representing the interests of their constituents, the majority of the republican politicians seem to only turn their back and do everything they can to avoid working together with their partners in Congress.

It frustrates me every time a Republican talking head complains and whines. The same hopeless, negative and defensive jabber spews out blindly. But today on NPR, I heard something different. David Frum, George W. Bush’s former speech writer and owner of Frum Forum, came under the media spotlight and felt the republican hell fire when he criticized his own party over the handling of the health care overhaul on various talk shows this past month. He was called a traitor by the Republican Party and laid off from his position at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. I’ve been hearing him speak on various radio programs and found him quite intelligible for a former Bush employee. In fact, Stephen Colbert called him the “balls” of the Republican Party. Today on NPR, something he said really grabbed my attention. When asked about the state of the Republican Party and its inability and unwillingness to actually accomplish things, Frum said that when a party has such a minority in Congress it tends to fall back on its core (extreme conservatives in this case) and do everything in its power to work against the majority. It makes sense. The republicans are falling back on its conservative strong holds, filled with voters who think Sarah Palin is Jesus reincarnated. The more moderate republicans, such as the ones in Southern California, are not represented by politicians of their own party and their voices aren’t necessarily being heard. Instead, the current republican political team in DC are left with an extremist view that refuses to compromise or reevaluated in anyway. So maybe, as horrible as this sounds, it would be a good thing for Republicans to gain a couple more seats at the next election. Maybe the return of the voice of the moderate Republicans will mean more action and less “No’s” for the entire country. Dear David Frum, I hope you are right because this is sucking soul out of our country.

Photos were taken at an immigration reform rally in Los Angeles.