By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

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.

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