Mudcat (66 posts) Thu Feb-19-09 03:16 PM
Original message
I QUIT!
I was a liberal Republican. I voted for GW Bush, because he told us he was a uniter not a divider. He went on to become one of the most divisive politicians in our nation's history. He spoke Spanish, and I thought that mean support for minorities. His VP had a lesbian relative, and I thought that meant gradual modernization of the party's position on gay rights. He supported the laizze faire economics I held dear, and I thought that meant prosperity for all. I went along with the Iraq war, because I trusted what I was told. The party supposedly supported all business, especially small business, and I thought that meant more jobs for Americans. He supported Greenspan, who I (an atheist) almost worshipped as the Economic God our of age.
I have been lied to. I recognize that now. I own responsibility for that.
Our economy lies in ruins. The economic policies I was told were good for everyone, turn out to have a rotten side never mentioned, where the topdogs gained all of the material benefits. Meanwhile, those same topdogs tell us that those at the very bottom have no sense of personal, individual responsibility. Then they herd those individuals into huge groups, and assign them a group responsibility with high interest rates--in effect, holding individuals responsible for paying for others' irresponsibility--a corporate financial shell game of collectivism. And those top dogs took heaping cuts of interest rates that held the working group at the bottom hostage, with no material gain from increased productivity of their labors.
And their paid political hacks in the party didn't support small business at all. Their drug programs benefit megacorps, their regulations benefit megacorps, their policies benefit megacorps. Under the Bush administration, small businesses lost their position as the major generator of new jobs in the American economy. Meanwhile, megacorps continue their game of divide and conquer, acquiring and merging and laying off workers at every turn of the game.
And though the party has gay and lesbian workers inside the machine, the talking heads at the top say what the socially conservative faction wants to hear. My gay and lesbian friends suffer from inequities in the workplace and at home, have problems adopting the kids they love, have problems getting their loved ones health insurance, can't file joint taxes like other families.
Well, I've had it. I have waited long enough for my party to change--it hasn't, so I will. I am resigning from the Republican Party today.
I was told socialized medicine was a great evil. I believed that for a long time. Then I sat down and watched Sicko, actually did my own research. Socialized medicine? Hell, we have corporate socialism in our healthcare industry, supporting a few rich players at the top at the expense of everyone else. We have billions for rich bald dudes with limp wangs, but nothing for the poor kid with a broken arm or his mom with cancer.
I was told France was weak, because of their socialism. Yet when I look into their "weak" system, I see a country that sends heated wagons out on the coldest winter days to gather up the homeless and send them somewhere with heat and food.
So I ask, perhaps socialism ain't so bad. Another thing I have been lied to about.
I give up on you, Republican Party. Last week was the last straw. Obama (I voted for him) opened the door of bipartisanship, and you slammed it in his face. The voting on the stimulus package, the rejection of the Commerce Department Secretary position, the diatribes about gov't spending & debt being bad--when any college freshman economics class shows the multiplier effect of gov't spending to get our economy out of the doldrums faster. Republicans don't seem ignorant about such basic things, but to go political because of purely political advantages--that seems stupid to me.
I give up on you, Republican Party. May you rot in hell.
Maybe I can become a Democrat. Anybody got a handbook for aspiring new members?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5091141
If you were ever a republican you were to the left of even the most shameless RINO in the party. People like you is why John McCain was ever a serious consideration for the Top Job.
As for your "book for aspiring new members"
here you go don't say I never do anything for you DUmmies either.
ananda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-19-09 03:19 PM
Response to Original message
4. There is no such thing as a "liberal Republican."
The two terms are mutually exclusive.
It's great to be liberal, but you have
to realize that liberals are not represented
in politics right now.
I wish I could agree with you there, but based on the examples set by some of the congress critters I have to call you out.
SallyMander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-19-09 03:20 PM
Response to Original message
6. "Maybe I can become a Democrat"
Sounds like you already are! :toast:
Welcome! :hi:
Agreed.
Mudcat (66 posts) Thu Feb-19-09 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #20
32. Ha!
Yeah, I set up an account to keep an eye on you guys when I heard about DU at FreeRepublic years ago--back when FR allowed libertarian-minded folks to speak their minds. I was one of the first 100 Freepers, but lost my "ranking" when the board got reset in its first year (I became member #831 or somesuch). The place went bonkers over time, now they censor most everyone who doesn't march in lockstep. They censored a couple of my posts two or three years ago--me, one of the original Freepers! So much for "freedom loving" and "liberty for all" huh? I've lost all my illusions about the GOP. I've also found much, much more in common with the folks here.
So, my journey to DU started with FR. Welcome to my "coming out" party, friend 
Welcome to DU ... Oh Wait..
Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-19-09 03:26 PM
Response to Original message
22. Good for you. Welcome to the real world. It can be a difficult place to live in sometimes,
but it's what we have. And in my view (despite the fact that I'm a DU member), the option is not solely Repub or Democrat. I've been an Indepenent-registered voter since 1972; and in the time since I have voted for a fair number of Republicans in State and local elections.
But it's good that you've broken out of the fold of the sheeplike Repubs, and are no longer willing to vote for whoever the Party demands you vote for, just because they're the Repub candidate.
Good for you, again.
Redstone
Redstone, talking about "the real world" . Now that is just too much. I nearly popped a lung when i read that.
Fire1 (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-19-09 04:01 PM
Response to Original message
48. Sounds suspicious to me. You sound like a 'spy.' I may be
wrong, but we'll see and I'll be watching.
Spy's don't need accounts there to see what goes on
alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-19-09 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
49. A handbook? How about handbooks? Look at the banned book list that
comes out every year. We tend toward anti-authoritarianism.
"I don't belong to an organized political party; I'm a Democrat." - Will Rogers. If you can live with that, you will fit in just fine.
*snicker*
