John McCain

wanted to lead the Republican Party off in a new

direction, but instead he may be doing Democrats' bidding

and leading it back to Losersville.

His tepid

non-endorsement of George Bush as he announced that he is

"taking a break" from his campaign was

indicative of what's wrong with the party.

It's the

same disease Democrats had during the '80s, when the

factions were fractious and getting one's way within the

party machinery became more important than making sure

that machinery was well-oiled and ready for action.

In addition

to using his superior leadership skills to accomplish his

goals through public opinion power, Ronald Reagan also

was able to exploit division in the Democratic Party to

move the country forward.

Bill

Clinton has often used the same tactics. The difference

is that, more often than not, he has used the technique

to slow the nation's progress, not move it forward.

Those on

the other side of some of those issues would have written

it the other way around, but hey, that's politics.

As an

independent, I'm not as angry as some of my Republican

friends about McCain's divisiveness. If I could put my

personal feelings aside for the good of the party, as I'm

suggesting McCain should do, I'd probably still be

working in Congress.

But as a

conservative/libertarian independent, I do find it

frustrating.

I would

like to see Republicans in charge of Congress and the

White House (with a big enough majority to win key

issues) for at least a presidential term or two, because

I feel so strongly about the need for a balanced budget

amendment, complete overhaul of Social Security and the

tax system, and a few other items that will never, ever

come about with Democrats in charge and so beholden to so

many interest groups.

Once those

things are accomplished and we have some checks in place

to keep the government from completely taking over our

lives, I'll be perfectly happy with a return to the

natural swinging of the pendulum.

But if

Republicans can't get their act together enough to get

100 percent behind their candidate, how can they ever

expect independents and disenfranchised Democrats to give

him a try?

If McCain

couldn't get motivated enough by his love of his party to

give Bush a warmer endorsement, he should watch some

tapes of Al Gore and Bill Bradley having their heated

arguments about which one of them is more committed to

taking more personal freedoms away from individual

Americans.

If loyalty

doesn't work, maybe fear will.