Move a little more to the Left – or – POP CULTURE ATE MY SOUL

Well, its pretty much official now. I, the token Republican am ready to jump ship. Here’s why.

1) GWB. Enough said. This is arguably the worst administration in History. From Katrina to Iraq, Osama to Gonzales, Rumsfeld to Rove, Kyoto to Abu gharib, “Mission Accomplished” to Stem cell research.. the list goes on and on.

2) Religion. I, like so many, voted with my faith for GWB in two elections, but when it didn’t pan out, I asked myself, “is God Republican?” Excluding the over-emphasized homosexual focus, and the very important Abortion debate, its hard to find a platform in the republican party that actually emphasizes Christian ideals. Meantime, the leftists support taking care of the earth, helping the poor, using wealth to improve socitey, and using force more judiciously. Between the two parties, it seems the dems have more Christian ideals.

Well, its pretty much official now. I, the token Republican am ready to jump ship. Here’s why.

1) GWB. Enough said. This is arguably the worst administration in History. From Katrina to Iraq, Osama to Gonzales, Rumsfeld to Rove, Kyoto to Abu gharib, “Mission Accomplished” to Stem cell research.. the list goes on and on.

2) Religion. I, like so many, voted with my faith for GWB in two elections, but when it didn’t pan out, I asked myself, “is God Republican?” Excluding the over-emphasized homosexual focus, and the very important Abortion debate, its hard to find a platform in the republican party that actually emphasizes Christian ideals. Meantime, the leftists support taking care of the earth, helping the poor, using wealth to improve socitey, and using force more judiciously. Between the two parties, it seems the dems have more Christian ideals.

3) Jon Stewart. My mother swears he and pop culture have corrupted me.. but you can only see so many ironies pointe dout before you start thinking.. “he has a point.

4) World opinion. After WW2, Germany was able to defer their Nazi guilt in following generations by saying “that was Hitler, not us”. Even many of our friends hate us now, and the election of a dem could be seen as a regime change, and that could be a good thing.

5) Candidates. Guiliani is interesting, as is McCain, but in my opinion, none are as strong as Obama, and probably Edwards. (Clinton will be, I think, their weakest centrist candidate). The fact is, the dems have come up with people you can vote for. Not the GOP.

Of course there are more.. but I thought I’d start with this, and see who bites.

2 thoughts on “Move a little more to the Left – or – POP CULTURE ATE MY SOUL”

  1. Jumping ship, and more

    I, the token Republican am ready to jump ship.

    I have been a registered Republican since 1991. I feel as if the party I grew up with, and the party ticket I voted for for years, has been yanked out from underneath me. Admittedly, some of my ideals have changed over the years, but the party of conservative financial policy and life-affirming ideals has become the party of out-of-control spending and knee-jerk rejection of science.

    Cases in point:

    • Embryonic stem cell research. Stem cell research holds as much promise for saving human lives as pharmaceuticals did in the 20th century. Cancer treatments alone have dramatically improved as a result. My party wants to ban the most useful areas of this research to kowtow to the extremist opinions of a minority. I don’t recall voting “More death! Yay!” on my ballot.
    • Fewer taxes, less government, strong military. These are Republican ideals. The actions in Iraq and Afghanistan have gutted our military. We have an unpaid debt to the tune of $700Bn supporting these wars which the next administration is going to be left to cover, and that will be done through a tax increase. And more Americans feel the hand of government reaching to control their lives more than ever before as a result of the PATRIOT act, DMCA (a Republican congress wrote this train-wreck of a bill), and single-party law-making full of pork over the past six years.
    • My party used to be the party of civil rights and equal rights for all. Now we’re the party of in favor of subsidizing religions, exclusion of gays, and elimination of equal rights incentives. Faith-based initiatives. No gays in the military. Equal rights are being pejoratively referred to as “special rights”.

    I could go on, but I won’t. I’ve been a member of the Republican party as a matter of convenience for a number of years. I’ve voted my conscience, and not my party, as long as I have been a registered voter. Maybe I should give up on them too… maybe that’s the only way to show the party who’s original ideals I still hold to that they have disenfranchised everybody but the extremists.

    —
    Matthew P. Barnson

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