So I am over exploring Little Green Footballs who as many of you are aware represent an actually (in my mind, at least) wonderfully sane and logical group of moderate conservatives...maybe. I am not sure they even consider themselves Conservatives, these days they may consider themselves center-left.
And of course we are all aware of the founder Charles Johnson who once was a scourge of the left is now a scourge of the loony right. And if you look at the website these days many of the topics there mirror those here.
One of the readers at LGF had a very wonderful article/diary/blog over there and I registered to try and thank him for it and get permission to publish it here. Alas for some reason my confirmation email for my registration seems to have been lost in the mail.
I hope theheat doesn't mind me providing some highlights here...
Why I Can No Longer Pull the R Lever
Without any revolutionary ideas to contribute to solving problems, the GOP has focused on becoming a wall of solidarity where social issues are concerned. Before, I could go along for the ride and keep my feelings about social issues under my hat, and often pulled the lever for pols with -R next to their name.
I can't do that any more. I feel like I owe my fellow human beings more than that. One one hand, there's economics, and on the other there are very real human issues. While the GOP would like to pretend they are the cure for the nation's economic problems, despite a less than stellar track record the previous two terms, they have collectively decided to assert themselves all over the rights of individuals to supposedly correct the ills of society and put America "back on track."
We know there are a lot of people out there who identify themselves as fiscally Conservative and Socially Liberal and a lot of them voted their pocketbook over their conscience. But you can only dance with the Devil for so long (never mind the fact that most Republicans aren't fiscally Conservative anyway).
theheat then lists the defective social thinking of the wingnuts. I don't wish to publish the everything, but he is pretty sarcatstic as he speaks in the voice of the wingnut...
If you're GLBT, you're defective, in spite of God's "perfect plan"; you don't share the same legal rights as heterosexuals....
If you are a religious or ethnic minority, at best you will be treated with suspicion, and at worst blamed for the downfall of the entire country; discriminated against, and possibly find yourself on the receiving end of lethal violence....
If you care about the world around you, you are Satan's lap dog, a tree hugger, a bleeding heart....
If you're a woman, you're doubly screwed. The GOP wants to limit your access to birth control, rescind legal abortion, and crawl up your snatch with instruments to demonstrate how they can best regulate your reproductive future....
If you're poor, it's your own fault.
And finally he ends with
This isn't even the full socon agenda, and that's why it's so terrifying. We have been in the crosshairs of terrorism and economic collapse for so long, it's given the de-humanists an opportunity to railroad what is must basic: the rights of individuals. In my world view, we're all particles in a cosmic game of dodgeball. Besides food, clothing, and shelter, we also require compassion and curious minds to insure our very existence, yet the GOP collectively denies the latter.
The GOP is poised to assert itself all over my fellow Americans, and is doing so incrementally. So, no, it's no longer a case where I can ignore the social issues, and only concentrate on the economic. In every town across America there's an Angle, a Palin, a Bachmann, a Jindal, and Rand Paul, a Ron Paul, a Ken Buck, a Huckabee - voting for them only helps advance their oppressive social agenda. I have pulled the R lever for the last time. Humans of all stripes deserve better.
I also really appreciated one of the comments from lonestarspur:
The democrats may want my money, but the republicans want my soul. The republicans can piss off.
I sometimes worry that here at DKos we are a bit of any echo chamber, patting each other on the back and reaffirming our own beliefs. Sure the folks over at LGF aren't Progressives, but posts like show that they are generally intellectually honest, open-minded and fans of critical thinking and I it makes me very happy to see.