Despite all the advance publicity, I somehow managed to not watch the interview with Bruce Jenner. Somehow, I guess it just didn’t seem all that important to me. Shocking, I know. But I surfed on by CNN just a little while ago to check up on WTF is going on in Nepal and Baltimore, and saw something that grabbed my attention:

Bruce Jenner comes out … as a Republican

“But not to get political, I’ve just never been a big fan. I’m kind of more on the conservative side.”

“Are you Republican?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “Is that a bad thing? I believe in the Constitution.”

This should not *necessarily* be a surprise. Straight or gay, normal or “guy/gal brain in gal/guy body,” anyone can conclude that the best government is that which adheres to the Constitution, is fiscally responsible, strong on defense, etc. etc. (Granted, it’s a reasonable point that the current Republican party *says* it’s for these things, but acts otherwise).

In the current binary system, you basically have Republicans as the evangelical traditional Christians who want slightly smaller government, and the Democrats as the anti-religion, “yay for gay” progressives who want ginormous unstoppable government. Where does this leave an atheist or a gay feller who wants limited government? If they join up with the Republicans, they are joining a political movement that is filled with people who will at the very least glare at them, and will very often yell vile things at them. And thus the Democrats are the default for many people even though the bulk of their political ideologies don’t line up.

But I think that if most of your views line up with the Republicans… even if socially you’re *way* out of the Republican mainstream, a good case can be made that that is where you should go. And the reason is simple: the force of history is dragging the Republicans in the direction of social liberalization. Gay marriage, pot legalization and similar concepts would have been unthinkable in the Republican party not that long ago, but they are certainly creeping in the direction of accepting them.

But the Democrats? I don’t see them moving in the direction of abandoning socialism, or privatizing Social Security, or getting rid of the Department of Education anytime this millennium.

The Libertarians would seem to be the obvious place for people who hold the world view of “what you are or do icks me out, but so long as you’re not forcing it on me and mine, and not making me pay for it, what the hell do I care,” but, damn, what a clown-car of a political party. But perhaps as the pot legalization movement succeeds, and hopefully goes Federal, the stoner/weedwhackos will be less of an influence.