At the beginning of The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings) Gandalf freed the mind of King Theodon who’s mind was clouded by the evil wizard Sauraman.
While my freeing was less of an event and more of a process, I have the same feeling. A great sence of enlightenment and yet a sence of despair looking back on those dark days.
Growing up in NH you simply were a republican. You were taught to look down on the Tax and Spend liberals of MA and complain on how they are turning NH into MA. At that time being liberal in NH was like being anti-union in Flint Michigan. You just did not do it.
Here are the series of events that have lead me to with careful consideration change my affiliation.
The Clinton Impeachment
I think it was around the same time the impeachment was going on that I began to question my allegiances and beliefs. I firmly believed that President Clinton had committed a crime and the punishment was impeachment. To a certain degree I have not waivered from that position, but that is another diary altogether. My first taste of disgust was the utter glee and joy that republicans took in this. It was not about the rule of law or protecting the sanctity of our courts it was to take down a very popular and very successful president. The more pundits I listed to the more sick to my stomach I became. As a socitety we for some reason like to see our heroes and leaders fall. It is a sick pleasure many take and it was taken to the next level with President Clinton. If republicans had shown class during this time and focused on the issue of lying under oath and not the side show/talk show trash I may not have had my eyes open to what is happening.
The 2000 election:
I did not like GWB then and I like him far less now. I was a volunteer for McCain's NH campaign and I am still proud of the work we did back then. He was a different senator back then than he is today. I know politics is dog eat dog, but what they did to one of their own down in Carolina was dog rip off dogs head and crap down its throat. At that point I realized it was never about the issues if it were we would have 8 years of McCain and I believe a much better image of the U.S amonst other nations and torture would not even be discussed right now. Also without rehashing the entire Florida fiasco it was quite clear tha this election was stolen. Even back then I was quietly hoping for a recount. If GWB had gotten the most votes I wanted everyone to know. It is hard to be president when ½ the country thinks someone else won. Aside from the volume of votes in question what is different between 2000 Florida and 2009 Iran. 2000 Supreme Court says Bush won no recount. 2009 Supreme leader says my guy won and no recount.
9/11
I don’t blame the administration for 9/11. I blame the hijackers. I don’t blame them for the memo warning them if Al Quada looking to attack the U.S. If we made up a fictional attack that occurred yesterday in which a dirty nuke was detonated in the Mall of America we could look through the last 6 months of briefings and say we should have seen it coming. I do blame Clinton and Bush 1 for not taking out Bin Laden when we had the chance. My 9/11 anger stems from using it as an excuse for EVERYTHING. How many people died in 9/11 a few thousand. No hundreds of thousands if you count Afghanistan and Iraq. While the end results in these countries may be successful they do not justify the actions and the lies told that led to those actions, so what did we do we moved the terrorist capital from Afhanistan to Somolia. Well lets go invade them now. These actions and the billions spent on them are not conservative values. A true conservative would have poured that money into the CIA and covert op’s and may have come up with the same results but with 99.9% fewer deaths.
The hypocracy:
I don’t care if you cheat on your spouse, I don’t care if you have an abortion it is your body no one else should chose for you. I don’t care what you do unless you preach to me not to do it. If republicans did not feel the need to play God and judge I could care less what happened in a Utah restroom or a hotel in South America.
Republicans don’t give a shit about me.
It was when I realized this I had made up my mind. While I may not agree with every liberal view I at least feel comfort in knowing the intention behind it is to better our society. The intention behind most republican point of views is the enrich those in the inner circle of the military industry and financial complex. If it benefits me it is not by design but a biproduct.
In a twisted way I consider President Obama to be conservative. If you think about the big issue of our day single payer health insurance. We will spend trillions of dollars on this which at first thought holy shit this is super liberal. But no it is not. He is investing in the long term health our citizens and our work force. With single payer health care employees get the health care they need and reduce their sick days. The use of the emergency room for headaches and sore throats comes to an end. The obscene administrative, advertising and manamgement bonus costs of insurance goes to zero. Doctors don’t have to train their admin on insurance submissions for the variaty of insurance companies. If you want to win conservatives over to single payer try that argument.
I used to wake up every morning very angry at the world and the socialization of our country. I now wake up every morning thinking what can we do to help those less fortunate than myself. I think in one sentence this sums up the difference between Republicans and Democrats.
thank you for welcoming me to my new home!