The current political climate has shifted decisively since the end of the Cold War from a dialogue between two political parties confronting the challenges of a bipolar world to a shouting match between two armed camps engaged in a zero sum game over political spoils. There is no longer debate, only defamation. Pork barreling trumps problem-solving and everyone has their hands in the till.

Over the course of this evolution, the Republican Party somehow lost its way. It used to be a pragmatic party, which coolly approached the problems of the day with reason, data, and facts. The Republicans did this so well, that their opponents viewed them as cold. In response, candidates like George W. Bush ran on a platform of Compassionate Conservatism. Over time, this compassion shifted to fear with the election of President Obama and then this fear turned into rage.

Desperate to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world, the Republican Party appealed to the hearts of the American people and like the Democratic Party so many decades earlier, it lost its mind.

The Republican Party has lost its way. On the one hand stand the minions of Sarah Palin, enraged by the status quo, but lacking the problem-solving orientation and experience necessary to fix our nation’s problems. On the the other hand stands the party’s establishment, struggling to hold the party together and grasping for a way to become relevant again. Yet the patricians of the establishment have become so hardened in their thinking that the party line increasingly trumps pragmatism.

This blog aims to comment on the great questions of our day in finance and economics; the emergence of China and India; energy security, clean energy, and climate change; and technological trends from a rational Republican perspective. Sometimes it will even proscribe policy solutions. While this blog will not comment only on Republican issues, it will be colored by them.

And so begins the great adventure…