I’m leaving the Republican Party. No longer can I say with a clear conscience that the Republican Party is focused on solving problems that will benefit average Americans.
Solving problems is about pragmatically viewing data to decide upon the most effective public policy solutions. Many times, problem solving is the complete opposite of adhering to a rigid political ideology that dictates policy regardless of consequences. Our public servants need to be looking at what has worked, what has not worked, and using those judgments to form policy moving forward. The Republican Party refuses to look at what works and what doesn’t — they simply base policy on whether it fits into a rigid anti-government philosophy, whether it is good policy or not. Essentially, the effectiveness of policy is completely and totally irrelevant to Republicans. Additionally, the Republican Party believes more strongly in obstructing anything that President Obama proposes than in real solutions that would create jobs and help the average American.
Additionally, I have specific grievances with the current “know-nothing” incarnation of the Republican Party:
- The Republican Party refuses to give full rights and liberty to same sex couples.
- The Republican Party refuses to craft real solutions to the problem of high healthcare costs. Our healthcare costs are the highest in the world, and rising. Our public servants need to be developing solutions that bring heathcare costs into line with the rest of the world.
- The Republican Party refuses to acknowledge the individual rights of women to control their own medical decisions and body.
- The Republican Party refuses to address the real solutions towards lowering the deficit. Any person who says they would oppose a plan that contains a ratio of $10 in spending cutsfor every $1 in tax increases simply does not have enough of an education in economics to participate in the discussion.
Even worse, the Republican Party has bamboozled the American people by portraying themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility. Any person who can recognize that some numbers are larger than other numbers know the obvious fact that the biggest spending Presidents are Republicans. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush alone are responsible for most of the national debt. Bill Clinton cut government and actually spent less money than was taken in…but George W. Bush quickly changed that.
I believe in smart government that effectively does what it should and leaves the rest to the private sector, while still recognizing the legitimacy of the existence of government. I believe in equal rights for all Americans, whether gay, straight, female, male, immigrant or naturally born. The Republican Party no longer believes in any of that.
No longer should the American people stand for the weak leadership and intellectual bankruptcy of the Republican Party. I’ll be voting for President Obama’s re-election.
e.g…There’s no filibuster in the House. Civil Rights bills would routinely fly thru that Chamber so all that mattered was the Senate.
Regarding the high % of Southern Repubs to oppose the 64cra, there were only 10 of them. Go back a few years and there were even less. The Senate was even more stacked. So, you can’t dismiss the party affiliation. One of the great crimes of Jim Crow was that it was an undemocratic one-party state.
So, back to the Senate. There are 11 former confederate states so that gives them 22 Senators. That’s not a majority. So, in order to maintain their Regime they needed help. And they got it…until 64.
I, too, was a lifelong Republican and became a Democrat about a year ago. You have summed up my same thoughts very well. Thank you.
It’s a shame what the party has become. If they had stayed with the ideals of the Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Robert G Ingersol, this could’ve been a party I could respect.
It’s too bad that millions of Americans have been propagandized by the repubs going back 30 years when Reagan took office. They can not think for themselves which explains why they vote against their own interests all the time. They vote their hate. We must do all we cant to get Obama a second term.
Really? It took you this long to figure that out?
The whole modus operandi of the Republican Party has been to say a bunch of simple-minded things to appeal to a bunch of simple-minded people, in order to get enough votes to do the bidding of their plutocratic benefactors, so they can secure themselves a cushy $1 million plus K Street job, paid for by the same benefactors, after they leave office. Very few people, Republican or Democrat, give a crap about ‘smart government’ if you’re waving a million dollar a year job in their face.
I thought this had all been kind of obvious for at least a decade.
Cool under pressure, nice guy, good family, no mission accomplished banners. Obama gets my vote too.
Civil Rights passed because LBJ had the power, resolve political toughness to do what it took to overcome the power of the Southern Committee chairs in the Senate (and in the House). The rules favored the committee chairs–so did the seniority system in the House and the Senate–and the only person who could manipulate, cajole, blackmail and bully the Southern Dem committee chairs (in the House and Senate) was LBJ. JFK could not do that. The Southern Dems hated JFK and they hated MLK so you can disavow yourselves that civil rights would have passed anytime soon without LBJ in the White House. The civil rights bill would not have even been heard, much less passed out of Senate or House committee were it not for LBJ’s methodology and governing authority.
The only Southern Senator to vote for The Civil Rights Bill was Ralph Yarborough (D-Texas) so the battle ground was on the heads of the Southern Dem Committee Chairs…As LBJ predicted, the South was lost to the Democrats because of civil rights; not because of liberal or conservative fiscal policies.
Southern Democratic Senators were among the best in milking the federal money mammary system …and Southern Republican Senators are still among the best as milking that teat!!! It was not economic conservatism that caused the old time racist Southern Dems to jump to the Republican Party; it was racism, pure and simple!!! And that racism is the teat Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes took advantage of in implementing their Southern Strategy to flip the South. Not that RN, RR, GHWB or GWB were or are racists but they patronized overt and covert racists in order to flip the South from D to R….To put it bluntly, it is the same strategy the string pullers among the Teapartiers (Whites and Uncle Tom’s) are using today!
” No longer can I say with a clear conscience that the Republican Party is focused on solving problems that will benefit average Americans.”
When, exactly, was the Republican Party ever focused on solving problems that will benefit average Americans?
1860?
Dude, I don’t want to be too snarky, but if you are JUST NOW figuring this out, I can’t say I’m impressed with your intelligence.
Considering that civil rights bills were heard and passed in 1957 and 1960 (both under Ike), and that the House passed a strong (essentially the ’64 bill) CRA in ’57, this is demonstratively false. Please retract.
Are you trying to tell us that LBJ bent Southern Dems in ’64? They actually allowed the CRA thru!? That’s quite a whitewashing of the most powerful segregationists in the land. I thought they fought it tooth and nail, refusing to yield an inch.
You are right to focus on procedural votes though, b/c that’s where civil rights went to die. Lets take a look at the most famous one…the one on cloture (end the filibuster). Here are the votes of the 11 Senators from the 22 former Confederate states.
AL Nay Hill, Joseph [D]
AL Nay Sparkman, John [D]
AR Nay Fulbright, James [D]
AR Nay McClellan, John [D]
FL Nay Holland, Spessard [D]
FL Nay Smathers, George [D]
GA Nay Talmadge, Herman [D]
GA Nay Russell, Richard [D]
LA Nay Ellender, Allen [D]
LA Nay Long, Russell [D]
MS Nay Eastland, James [D]
MS Nay Stennis, John [D]
NC Nay Ervin, Samuel [D]
NC Nay Jordan, Benjamin [D]
SC Nay Johnston, Olin [D]
SC Nay Thurmond, J. [D]
TN Nay Gore, Albert [D]
TN Nay Walters, Herbert [D]
TX Nay Tower, John [R]
TX Aye Yarborough, Ralph [D]
VA Nay Robertson, Absalom [D]
VA Nay Byrd, Harry [D]
There’s not much LBJ magic here, is there? Only Yarborough could’ve flipped and he didn’t…as he had long voted for civil rights.
LBJ couldn’t even get liberal icons like Gore, Earvin, Fulbright, or Smathers (JFK’s best friend in the Senate) on board. And Robert Byrd didn’t flip…in case anyone is wondering (he’s not included on the list b/c WV isn’t a clear Confederate state. Your narrative is false.
Hint: the folks who need to be flipped were non-southern Dems who were in collusion and Republicans who wanted to stick it to the President.
Errr…that should be 22 Senators from the 11 Confederate States.
Welcome back to sanity. What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for you. But, seriously, welcome home.
you maybe leaving the republican party, but you were probably in the wrong party to begin with since you lack clarity, honesty, and basic critical thinking skills. For example:
You: The Republican Party refuses to give full rights and liberty to same sex couples.
The Truth: Clinton signed Defense of Marriage Act and Obama fully supports it. Every state where the people were allowed to vote have upheld marriage as between a man and a woman, even in liberal bastions such as California. It is only when hack politicians and judges get involved has same sex married been incorporated.
You: The Republican Party refuses to craft real solutions to the problem of high healthcare costs. Our healthcare costs are the highest in the world, and rising. Our public servants need to be developing solutions that bring heathcare costs into line with the rest of the world.
The Truth: Republicans want Insurance companies to compete against state lines, Democrats have fought this. Republicans want tort reform democrats are against this. Republicans are fighting illegal immigration which causes health care costs to rise, democrats are fighting the fight against illegal immigration.
You:The Republican Party refuses to acknowledge the individual rights of women to control their own medical decisions and body.
The Truth: Republicans view Roe v Wade as bad law which it is. it is also a moral issue When you say control over ones body that is an obvious lie, we control many things of a persons body, we limit the drugs people are allowed to take, we make alcohol legal and pot illegal, we restrict what a person can do with their body when it regards to prostitution, suicide is against the law, Michelle Obama doesn’t want children drinking soda in school, you have to wear a seat belt, or a helmet etc etc etc ..stop lying when you use the words a persons body, government does it all the time.
You:The Republican Party refuses to address the real solutions towards lowering the deficit. Any person who says they would oppose a plan that contains a ratio of $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases simply does not have enough of an education in economics to participate in the discussion.
The Truth: If you had $10 dollars in tax cuts then you wouldn’t need a rise in taxes so therefore it was a false argument. the last time that argument was made was in the Reagan Administration and the democratic congress PROMISED $3 dollars in cuts for every $1 dollar in tax increase..the result were 8
$8 dollars in tax increase for $1 dollar in cuts..so please have the intellectually honesty to understand if we cut the budget by a real 10% we would have no need to raise taxes.
Jeff you are naive man who was never a republican, you are a big government social welfare creating liberal.
The Republican Party, per se, has little more to recommend it these days than does the Demoncratic Party… with one exception: Ron Paul.
Keep your party affiliation long enough to vote for the one presidential candidate in either party who has a long track record of integrity (and being RIGHT). If Paul is elected, you can reasonably expect BIG changes for the better. If anyone else wins… you get more of the same.
After that? Who cares? On the basis of the parties themselves, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference. Both are so corrupt and so full of excrement they don’t deserve your support.
On second thought, given that the major parties are such POCs, why not register Libertarian? I’ll be doing that as soon as the primaries are over.
Thank you. I believe you are not alone. Keep up the good work. Please look up Jeff Carlson, he is 17 yr GOP member who called it quits. A reasonable, sensible, intelligent and articulate man like you.
I always have considered myself an Independent voter. As of 2010, I changed to anti-republican. More lunch box republicans are needed. The type that actually are concerened about their constituents as opposed to ideology.
Kevin…typical thuglican argument. Comparing drinking soda and wearing seat belts to abortion rights. You probably wish women were not allowed to wear pants and think puppy mills are o.k. as long as they turn a profit.
Because that is supposed to be a really issue for the average American?
Excuse me, it is not. Not even for the average gay “couple”!
That is sheer ideology.
Welcome aboard. I am glad to see you have seen, as I have, the radicalization of the Republican Right. It’s scary that Archie Bunker is the middle of the party, and Barry Goldwater would be called a RINO for saying “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight”.
The Republican Party has become the most racists, liars, hypocrits, ungodly, anti-christ bunch of idiots I know. They claim to be christians, which they don’t even know the meaning of that word, Jesus himself would reject their claims. It is sad how the religious right has become so destructive and self righteous. They judge and label people as liberals but at least the liberals act better than they do. The liberals have compassionate for the poor and the unfortunate just like Jesus had when he was on earth. The Republicans are all about making the rich, richer while passing laws to give them big tax breaks and then turn around and take away any assistant that is needed for people. It should be a crime and certainly a shame for the middle class and poor to pay 30% in taxes while rich people pay 10% to 14% because of all the deductions and tax break. The republicans have the audacity to say they need those breaks to create jobs when most of them don’t even have a business to create job. They are living off their wealth by buying mega mansions and riding in their fine cars. I could go on and on about those crooks who has been robbing the middle class blind. They are getting over and think we are too dumb to see it. I wish the middle class and poor people would wise up and vote them all out…but it is sad that they vote against their own best interest based solely on ideology.
Thank you for having the good sense to change your mind about the party. So many of us are rigid in our thinking. So many of us respond to the fear mongers. I don’t love everything the Dem’s do, but I generally swing left. It’s clear to me that the GOP rant on jobs is code for Give Money and Tax breaks to big corps. But they can’t be relied on to let riches “trickle down.” That strategy never NEVER worked.
Hey Kevin, you dishonest sack of poop, your comment is full of howlers, so I’m going to beat it with the Truth Stick of No Mercy:
KEV: “You: The Republican Party refuses to give full rights and liberty to same sex couples.”>>
That claim is exactly right and 100% true. So you’ve got nothing here.
KEV: “The Truth: Clinton signed Defense of Marriage Act and Obama fully supports it.”>>
You lie: “President Barack Obama’s political platform included full repeal of DOMA.[36][37]” -wiki
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/lgbt.pdf
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/alexokrent/gGggJS
KEV: “Every state where the people were allowed to vote have upheld marriage as between a man and a woman,”>>
Nice spin. Here is the public state opinion on the question of gay marriage:
http://fayfreethinkers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22209#p22209
It’s progressing speedily and steady at 1.5% per state, per year, and you’ve just lost another front on the republican war of bigotry and hate against others. Have you guys ever been right on a social/civil rights issue, ever?
KEV: “The Truth: Republicans want Insurance companies to compete against state lines,”>>
Obama’s plan allows for that, but it’s hardly a panacea. We have administration costs 2 and 3 times that of peer countries because we piss it away in feeding a for profit greed machine.
KEV: “Republicans want tort reform…”>>
Tort reform is a joke. Texas tried it and it did nothing. Observe:
“[tort reform causes a] health-care spending reduction of 0.1 percent.” That’s one tenth of one per cent.”
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/meme-busting-tort-reform-cost-control-2/
KEV: “Republicans are fighting illegal immigration which causes health care costs to rise,”>>
Doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
KEV: “You:The Republican Party refuses to acknowledge the individual rights of women to control their own medical decisions and body.”>>
Obviously true, so again, you’ve got nothing.
KEV: “Republicans view Roe v Wade as bad law…”>>
It’s not a bad law if you view women as fully human, which republicans don’t.
KEV: “When you say control over ones body that is an obvious lie,”>>
Not at all. It is exactly and precisely having the government take over a woman’s body.
KEV: “we control many things of a persons body, we limit the drugs people are allowed to take,”>>
That’s so they don’t harm others. A fetus isn’t a person, doesn’t have rights of personhood and isn’t yet an “other.” Just like in the Bible, which is pro-choice from beginning to end.
KEV: “we make alcohol legal and pot illegal,”>>
And WTF does that have to do with a woman having the right to control her reproduction? Nothing.
KEV: “we restrict… when it regards to prostitution,”>>
Nevada doesn’t. And why does one restriction of a civil liberty suggest another freedom should be restricted? Non sequiter.
KEV: “suicide is against the law,”>>
Again, irrelevant.
KEV: “you use the words a persons body, government does it all the time.”>>
Your reasoning doesn’t follow. Try again.
KEV: “If you had $10 dollars in tax cuts then you wouldn’t need a rise in taxes so therefore it was a false argument.”>>
Unintelligible. Taxes are at their lowest in 60 years, and still the ignorant Teabaggers whine. Taxes are lower under Obama than they were under baby Bush, Clinton, papa Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Johnson, Nixon and Kennedy. You don’t know what you are talking about. All of your republican tax whoppers are roasted here:
http://fayfreethinkers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6357
KEV: “if we cut the budget by a real 10% we would have no need to raise taxes.”>>
Republicans have zero creditably on budgets or deficits, as the above article shows. Since 1959 federal spending has gone up an average $35 billion a year under Democratic presidents and $60 billion under Republicans. Republican presidents increased the national debt much faster, more than $200 billion per year, versus less than a $100 billion per year under Democrats.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20059-2005Apr1.html
Government doesn’t help average Americans. Who gets hurt worst by high taxes – someone just getting by, or someone with a lot of disposable income? Freedom helps people. Freedom allows people to create jobs. You people think the govt can somehow take a dollar out of the economy and put $2 back in. It doesn’t work that way. Kevin is right, the promised spending cuts never come, but the taxes never go away. Cuts in spending are the definition of fiscal responsibility, and tax increases are the ENABLER of bad fiscal policy – they allow politicians to just keep on spending.
Your name calling of Kevin shows your true colors. What has never worked, Amy Lou, is big govt! America has the highest standard of living ever possessed by any culture, and our poorest are better off than the average person in many countries. How can you say freedom hasn’t worked. Me keeping what I earn isn’t “giving me money.” The money is mine when I earn it. What right does anyone have to take it from me?
Women have rights, but we conservatives think that unborn babies are human beings, and have rights, too. If someone believes the fetus is a human being, how could that person also say another person has the right to end it’s life?
Same sex couples aren’t denied any rights. Since when is marriage a right? Withholding positive affirmation isn’t the same as discrimination, any more than cutting off govt funding for the arts was censorship. Gay couples can do anything they want, and failure by the govt to recognize their union doesn’t stop them from making their own choices about spending their lives together.
No poor person ever hired anyone. No govt ever created a real job, without first confiscating money from someone who earned it in spite of them. Kevin is right! And Amy Lou, if you’ve ever spent your paycheck on a new pair of shoes, you’ve proved that trickle down economics worked. It never meant “give money to the rich, and hope it trickles down,” like the dems wanted you to believe. It has always meant that letting money stay in the private sector, in the hands of those who earn it, will create economic activity that benefits everyone. Some day, if we continue down the Obama path, you redistributionists are going to run out of other people’s money. Then what?
I feel lots of love and tolerance vibes here…
Are you a Christian? Full of charity and love? (see above in case you say yes) Or another one of those sanctimonous atheists invariably saying Christians [capital btw] don’t understand christianity?
Really ? Any proof coming or just a lot of judgmental bile?
By the way, Jesus judged and labelled people (see Pharisees, the temple merchants) he forgave sinners who *repented*.
Well, three things :
1) Government is not a Church. Would you like a government that did not emprison criminals (just forgave) ? A government that did not good after tax dodgers? (just forgave) Etc.
2) You have to prove that the liberals are really compassionate and that their holier-than-thou attitude is actually good for the poor and unfortunate. Or are those handouts actually more evil than good.
3) Are you actually sure that Christ would agree with the confiscation of income by the liberal governments? Confiscation a Christian virtue? (Voluntary charity yes, but not confiscation, you see governments aren’t churches) How about some verses like no bread for the ones who do not work? How do you square that with liberal policies that actually incite some people not to work and rather live out of hand-outs and “community” programs.
I guess I don’t know how to use the block quote feature.
My previous comment was in reaction to this statement by Manju: “LBJ couldn’t even get liberal icons like Gore, Earvin, Fulbright, or Smathers (JFK’s best friend in the Senate) on board.”
He has finally left the dark side- welcome to the Force, Mr. Wartman.
I didn’t use “what Democratic politicians did back then…as a criticism of the party today”. In the part you quote, I used what they did (staunchly oppose civil rights via procedural tactics) as criticism of the idea that LBJ was the “only person who could manipulate, cajole, blackmail and bully the Southern Dem committee chairs”.
The southern committee chairs did not yield one iota. They should get no credit whatsoever for the passage of the 1964 CRA. Zero. They opposed it with all their might. In his zeal to defend LBJ, Harley Spoon (perhaps inadvertently) ended up pushing a completely ahistoric narrative.
It sounds to me as if he’s thinking of the 1957cra, when LBJ was Senate Majority Leader and the Dixiecrats decided not to Filibuster. And even then, the narrative is completely off.
Every Republican Senator voted for the 2006 Voting Rights Act.
While I don’t believe in everything that the dems do, I do believe that republicans are trying so hard to hold on to their political ideology that they don’t really consider what’s best for people and that they would do anything just to oppose Presidemt Obama, even risking our future. All I can say to republicans is of you truly LOVE. This country as much as you say you do there would be more partisan leadership. I agree with someone else’s comment that to me they seem more like the party of hate and intolerance.
Glad to see that someone else did the same thing I did (although I did so in response to support for the Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980s – You know, the people who eventually became the Taliban and Al Queda).
I disagree with many Democratic Party policies, and I tend to vote based upon proposed solutions and not along direct party lines. Lately, the Democratic Candidates seem to have proposed more solutions that lie along those supported by evidence (and I don’t just mean things like people’s voting records… I mean looking at the CONSEQUENCES of a policy).
The Republican Mantra of “Purity of Ideology” is the enemy to critical thought. It’s just that simple.
I’d like to hear some feedback from people on what they believe is really behind all of this persecution of the middle class? What is ALEC’s ultimate goal? Is it the Koch Bros father’s weird political views from his years in Soviet Russia? Is it the religious fervor of the Tea Party? Is the twisted belief structures put forth through Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”? Is it the Chinese secretly funding all things anti-freedom so as to make US more pliable for the final takeover? Is it a terrorist plot unidentified? Is it primarily the greed of corrupt elected officials? All of the above? What’s REALLY going on?
Seems to me things were going pretty well with a few major bumps. The Clinton years were great for me, economically. I want those years back! Aren’t we as a people supposed to be trying to evolve into a more aware, higher consciousness, you know, The Age of Aquarius and all…. What’s going on?
Anyone who sticks with either party is a fool.
Jeff believes that the Democratic Party is better than the Republican Party on things. The problem is that on the basic elements of life, both sides fall flat.
Free your mind, become a registered Independent and vote for those who aren’t of either party. Give up the party politics, give up the party ideologies, and be free. Democrats are no better than Republicans.
You guys who are criticizing the poster for “taking so long” need to back off. He figured it out, got tired of their antics and bullshit, and left the party. A congratulations and welcome should be your response, not ragging on him.
From me, I offer a wholehearted welcome! We are happy to have you. It is truly encouraging to see what sometimes appears to be a lot of really blind, soulless, no compassion people who appear to be beyond help and then someone like you uses your brain and breaks loose. Well done.
TOUCHE Jeff!!
(good move…)
Welcome. We have a big tent and thank you for being honest. Kevin you are a troll.
I am a registered Independent who has always tended to lean towards the Republican side of the spectrum until 2008. I am not sure where the party went by the wayside, but I think it has been happening for a long time, and I, equally as hoodwinked by them, was reluctant to admit that the Democrats served, me better. I will be voting for Barack Obama in 2012.
my reply to this and the stream of comment was hard but urged, as i sit here confused. I do not define myself by any one political party , niether democrate or republican define me as a voter. Nor does any one ideal or set path, life is a Series of choice inwhich I choose to invoke, my choice define me. They define me as an american, they define me as a person, as a husban, as a father, as a son, and brother. I Personal like Ron Paul, yes he a republican but he has been consistant on his views for a life time. one of the few ppl who stood agaist the NDAA bill OBAMA, HOUSE , AND SENATE passed. the NDAA BILL that kill rights of every man, woman, child, of every shade away. the goverment can kill you, kidnap you, tortur you, beat you, if they think you a terrorist. what do the define as a terrorist there currently no defined, but the DHS say if you are OWS or protester, support a 3rd party candidate, a vet you are considered a threat. is that what you want for your kids? I URG anyone to check out http://www.ronpaul2012.com -less taxes, end war on drugs, reduce gov, for the love of god and all that is holy plz just check him out.
Get back to me when you change your introductory “about Jeff Wartman” post to add the missing “ic” to the pejorative “Democrat Party.”
Until then, I shan’t be welcoming you with open arms like a long-lost prodigal son who finally found his way home.
Pay your dues and earn it, and start by scrubbing the nasty little digs and subtle-but-hateful elisions from your site.
I find it hard to believe that “Jeff” was ever a Republican given the nature of his cites as wrong with the party. There’s no argument here that is worth responding to – it reads more like Democrat talking points than an attempt at legitimate expression of grievance, or even a change of individual point of view – which I could respect. Indeed, he opens his treatise with the same tired slander that one hears daily from the likes of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chuck Schumer, et al.; that Republicans are so locked into “rigid political ideology;” that we cannot/will not consider anything that conflicts with that ideology. He continues on saying that “the Republican party refuses to look at what works.” One could write a lengthy paper on the inaccuracy of those two statements alone, but I will offer only this:
The state of California has been solidly under Democrat and Union control for 40 years – regardless of who has sat in the governor’s chair the state has been controlled by Democrats. Presently, we have one of the highest state tax rates in the country, we spend more on k – 12 education than most other states; provide more social services than any other state; have more regulation and restrictions on business than most other states. California is shedding jobs by the hundreds daily; the cost of living here continues to go up; and ranks at or near the bottom in k – 12 education. On top of all that California is running a $20 billion deficit. The Democrat solution to this is higher taxes, more regulation, more set asides, and very few cuts if any. In essence, more of the same – and they expect a different result, why?
Contrast the state of Wisconsin, which was in a similar (thought not nearly as bad) state of affairs. Even though Governor Walker can prove that the moves he made to get the state back on track have worked and continue to work; he’s reduced the state deficit and they are headed back to black. Democrats through their Union minions (or perhaps I have that backwards) want to go back to the way things were. We might also look at the state of Texas, which is taking jobs from California at an alarming rate, but California Democrats want to do nothing that emulates the Texas or Wisconsin models. Who then, is intransigent?
This plays out at the Federal level as well. What has Barak Obama done to create jobs – arguably not his job to do, but he said that he would so…For the first two years of his administration he owned the House and the Senate, but chose only to push through to passage one of the most costly and onerous pieces of legislation in the nations history – to what end? The healthcare bill will likely create more government jobs, but not as many as the private sector will shed as healthcare costs for employers go up; something Democrats do not talk about or even acknowledge.
There is a degree of cognitive dissonance at work here that is mind boggling.
Let’s move to Jeff’s real points, he’s upset that Republicans oppose same sex marriage, abortion, and the gifting of healthcare benefits to all.
Republican’s generally do oppose same sex marriage, and why not. For all of time marriage has been defined as being between men and women – most often one man and one woman. Even the Greeks – who were big on homosexual entanglements – did not advocate homosexual marriage. Now, after 6000 years of history, we’re to presume that all who came and thought before us were wrong. The hubris of that assertion is beyond rational reckoning; and before anyone says that it’s “hate speech” one must simply ask, would you extend the same right to marry whomever you love to those who want to marry multiple partners that they “love”, or marry a brother or sister whom they “love”? What about the father who loves his adult daughter so much that he (and she) want to marry? Society must draw a line. In the drawing and support of the line that currently exists, many Republicans and Conservatives do support civil unions between same sex couples – a distinction without very much difference from marriage, but one that preserves societal mores while allowing legal recognition and standing to same sex couples.
On this issue of abortion – while there is largely a consensus of thought on the issue there is by no means agreement across the board. Some, like me, believe that life begins at the moment of conception, and to take that life – especially for convenience sake – is a crime against humanity. This was not my thinking 20 years ago and it is not the thinking of all Republicans today, but it is a crucial concern and a measure of Conservative core values. Neither will it hold in every circumstance for most Conservatives.
Last, the notion that Republicans have refused to address or to “offer real solutions to ward deficit reduction” is absurd in the extreme. Indeed, over the last two years and especially the last year and half (since they took control of the House) Republicans have put for dozens of bills aimed at deficit reduction. The most notable of these was put forth by Paul Ryan, but instead of engaging in honest debate over the merits of the proposal. Democrats put out an evil ad depicting Ryan (and Republicans) as the group who wanted to cast granny over a cliff!
It is a lie to assert that the President is being blocked by Republicans The [Democrat controlled] Senate has refused to take up even one of these proposals. In the greatest example of partisan malfeasance that same Democrat controlled Senate has also refused to put forth any budget proposal of its own, and when the President finally decided to take a lead and submit his own budget proposal not one Democrat in the Senate cast a vote in favor of it.
I do not believe there is any such thing as “smart government” or even dumb government. I do believe in either smart, dumb, or ineffective governance – President Obama has shown himself to not only be ineffective, but incompetent – often dangerously so.
The purpose of the Federal Government of the United States and the office of the President of the United States is stated clearly in the Constitution of the United States, “Provide for the common defense; Promote the general welfare; and Secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and Our Posterity.” We are failing! President Obama is failing – by putting forth initiatives that have and will continue to cripple the standing (financial and otherwise) of the Country – not for the good of the Country but they fit with his personal view of how things ought to be – he achieves nothing but the continued diminishing of this Country and the decrease of the Liberty enjoyed heretofore by its citizenry.
I believe in equal rights for all Americans, whether gay, straight, female, male, (legal) immigrant or naturally born. All serious Republicans and Conservatives believe that. None will tell you any different. To state otherwise is to have been so lost in the propaganda of the Leftist Democrats (who have taken over the Democrat party) as to be completely unable to any longer recognize truth.
I agree that no longer should the American people stand for the weak leadership and intellectual bankruptcy. I’ll be voting for anyone but President Obama in the next election.
Funny, the loooooongest diatribes here are from Repubs…Let’s get the hot air balloons out–we’ve got a lot of it!!
Like you and many others, I have been a life long republican campaign volunteer, precinct committeeman, vice ward chairman, candidate, and public office holder and awarded the outstanding GOP elected offical award. I have never missed an election and given countless hours and money. I’m pro small business, pro education, pro choice, Fiscally responsible, socially responsible, big tent republican now called a RINO. I didn’t leave the party they left me when the religious right and libertarians could not get elected they became the Tea Party Republicans. They have driven my party of the middle class to the far right with the money from big business billionaires. There is no longer a party that can be trusted or believed in by anyone with any common sence. I despise what my GOP hah.tpos become.
With an obese body such as yours you are going to need all the free healthcare you can muster when diabetes and high blood pressure finally hit that fat a** of yours. Good luck tubby and best of luck.
Yeah I’m a real Conservative and I’m better than you.
Um Kevin marriage has not been defined since the dawn of time between a man and a woman. 2 person monogamous marriage is a fairly new phenomenon in the history of the world.
Oh and carrying a baby (which you will then have to take care of) and wearing a seatbelt are not even remotely the same thing, not even a little bit.
Oh and tort reform is the Republican way of saying they don’t have anything to contribute to the health care debate because it does nothing to stop healthcare.
The Republicans, SO MUCH OVERSIGHT/ SO LITTLE VISION! ©
Kevin, you might want to check out the facts about Chritianity and gay marriage in the church as late as the 18th century. http://www.gaychristian101.com/Gay-Marriage.html
PS The Greeks are mentioned in there too.
I really don’t quite understand why anyone who actually knows how much a gallon of milk costs would even consider voting for someone who thinks it is ok for the elitests to pay less of a percentage of their income than someone who is actually struggling to make ends meet during these tough times.We have given away our manufacturing jobs to mexico,then to china and we somehow wonder why unemployment could be so high. When the average american cannot achieve or even hope for middleclass status, the economy has little chance to recover. I would also like to to know, with all the tax breaks the elitists have been recieving, when will they start investing in america to create all the jobs we are waiting on, are we supposed to hang on by are fingernails until we starve?
You are a complete moron!! obama knows about fiscal responsibility? Thank God you are leaving the party…By the way, with your ugly face you will fit right in with the democratic LOOOOOSERS
Pingback: Anonymous
Both parties are responsible for the mess we are in today. Republican have brought forward plans for cutting spending and Democrats have refused to have a serious debate about spending and debt. It’s been over 1,000 days and Harry Reid refuses to do anything about it. Welfare was never meant to be part of the government. It was the government’s duty to establish a NATIONAL DEFENSE! There is so much waste, abuse, and overlapping in the Federal Government today. Every Government throughout history has marched towards interference of citizens life’s. Why do people insist on trying socialism, statism, and communism? It never works! It always failed and will continue to do so. Yes, that includes Cuba and China.
Free Enterprise, Free Markets, and Capitalism is the only way!
I am proud of Jeff for wanting to do the right thing for himself and America.