I WAS OUT on the roads today, looking at a series of signs for political candidates, almost all of them Republican. Pretty disgusting. And they put the word “Republican” right on the signs, almost as if they weren’t ashamed of it. So I began thinking of the culture in which they were raised, because it is also the culture in which I was raised. Even in my family there is Republicanism.
It is deeply buried, and I had largely blocked it out, but I remembered that there was a time when Republicanism held no stigma for me. So I thought about escaping from that horrid state, and how there must be millions facing that situation. And I thought it might be nice to send them some advice, to help them along the path to being better human beings.
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HEY! I am writing this to you because of the situation you are in. You’ve discovered that the Republican party isn’t the political ‘home’ for you you thought it was, or that your family told you it was. Perhaps their penchant for reinforcing hatreds has turned you off. Perhaps you have gotten tired of their acceptance of Reagan’s analysis that government is the problem as a conclusion to be defended and insured, rather than a challenge for every human being with political ambitions.
Maybe you don’t like how they play on fears, rather than hopes, how they try to convince others that they are victims, rather than trying to empower. Maybe you don’t like how viciously they seek to do unto others, even when those others have no hope of ever doing unto them, how they stifle opportunity for everyone but themselves and the über-wealthy. Maybe you have grown weary of their utter failure to present a vision for the future of this country, other than saying they want it more the way it was than it is now. Theirs isn’t EVEN a clear vision of the past, much less of the present or the future.
Maybe you have tired of their extreme judgmentalism, their willingness to send the children of others to war because they don’t like this country or that country, when they care nothing for the welfare of the unborn in this country (other than insisting THAT they be born), will oppose pre-natal health care with their dying breaths, oppose educational opportunities for those unable to afford private education, even though it means our country falls behind almost every other civilized country in quality, available education. They want their offspring to have competitive educations and no one else. It’s a national security issue of the highest order! They could care less.
Perhaps you have tired of their emphasis on extreme selfishness, as if that could ever help our species forward. It is modern day advocacy for nature-state survival of the economic fittest, while stacking every deck to insure that only they and their offspring qualify. If that means cheating, lying, stealing, they are prepared to do it. They DO do it! We’re tired of it, too.
Maybe you are frustrated by their efforts to sabotage and undermine and defund government so they can say that government does not work, the most vicious self-fulfilling prophecy of our lifetimes. It’s easy to say the President has not achieved all he intended when those things were blocked by Republicans, who are the first to join the chorus and yell Congress! Congress! When it is really the Republican portion of Congress which is totally dysfunctional. They are more adept at creating and exploiting false equivalencies than any political force in the history of mankind, a horrific distinction, for which, by and large, they pay little political price.
Well, that can change, and you are at the very forefront of that possible change. Bailing on them sends a powerful message that they are on the wrong path. They are on a path that they can’t afford any more than we can. Theirs is a path to quick doom, even if they find ways to shunt the blame for their approach off on others.
It’s Okay If You Used To Be A Republican. (IOKIYUTBAR) ::wink:: In fact, it is a GREAT thing!
Please know that you are doing the right thing, in opening your mind to broader possibilities, to a clearer view of what is and what should be. Doing unto others as we would have others do unto us is one of the finest ideals our species has ever conceived. Yet Republicans and conservatives have done everything in their power to ABORT it before birth. The Golden Rule, of all things. Never to be applied politically, never to be validated, never to be respected. It is that party you are leaving, and I, for one, applaud you whole-heartedly. Bless you, and by all means let us continue this dialogue! And, let's 'help' them along, in 2012!
On to tonight’s comments (most graciously formatted and compiled by Chrislove, a personal hero of mine)!
TOP COMMENTS
June 27, 2012
Thanks to tonight's Top Comments contributors! Let us hear from YOU
when you find that proficient comment.
From Dave in Northridge:
In Cartoon Peril's CS diary, in a discussion of what we call them produced this distinction between the left and right by detroitmechworks. I was happy I had just finished my coffee, because it would have been spurting out of my nose when I saw this.
From JayRaye:
In DEMonrat ankle biter's diary on the voters' faith in Obama's handling of an alien invasion, this comment by Fordmandalay was short but sweet, and funny too.
From Scottie Thomaston:
I laughed a lot at this comment by harrije in Mets102's diary E.J. Dionne Calls for Scalia to Resign in Washington Post Op-Ed.
From BeninSC:
Fonsia wrote an interesting comment about the problem of Supreme Court justice nominees and cases like Citizens United. Closing with this powerful argument:
We win this year or we're done.
Here is a nice two-comment thread between DownstateDemocrat (here) and Bob Sloan (here) on Lincoln and Wisconsin and the demise of representative government there.
allergywoman asks if position of 'raving lunatic' has been taken! ::wink::
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TOP PHOTOS
June 26, 2012
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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