This has been a long time coming. And what I am about to say is after plumbing the depths of my soul for what I truly believe and examining the philosophies that are now defining the Republican party. As I have called myself a Republican for my entire adult life, this only makes what I have to say even harder. But sometimes, when the dog you have loved for years gets the rabies, you have to take it out and shoot it yourself.
I have pretty much had it with the goings on in the Grand Old Party. I came to the Republican party because they best represented my values and ideals of less government and a clear (theoretically) moral stance. But for many years it has been drifting away from the conservative ideals last embodied (imperfectly but greatly) in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Also, I've seen my philosophies crystallize over time to leave the morality to the clergy and reduce the government involvement in our daily lives. (holy crap, I've skewed libertarian)
Now I could stay with the GOP if they had worked on reducing government. But that has not been the case. In 1995, we saw the last real conservative election, with Newt Gingrich leading the charge with the Contract with America. Since then, the GOP has spent a decade sliding away from shrinking government and has instead unleashed, especially with the election of George W Bush, in an unprecedented growth of government programs. And now, we are at the point where the party is dominated by the McCain-Schwarzenegger wing of the party (Democrats In Republican Clothes). This is now a party that seeks the center to work with Democrats, embraces liberal scams (Global Warming) to expand government, and expects support from conservatives, who they expect to show out because they are the lesser evil than a liberal Democrat.
I can at least respect the Democrats for embracing the ideology they espouse, despite my utter disagreement with it. I can no longer say the same for a party that has given up its ideology to be liked more by their political enemies.
So as of this date, I declare that I am no longer a member of the Republican party.
I haven't settled on being an independent or a Libertarian yet, but I will share that when I have done so.
*excessive venom alert*
Now what do I want to see happen, in the short term, to my former party? I want to see it die, be burned from the face of the Earth, and cease utterly. Or even more ironically, I'd love to see Ron Paul and the comedy relief that are the Paultomatons tear the party asunder, leading to defeat and darkness and utter domination of the country by the Democrats. Only from the chaos that would result could a new conservative party emerge to challenge the insanity that will result from a President Obama, with willing support from the Democrat-led, RINO-infected, and DIRC-diseased Congress, destroying what remains of the American dream.
Now this is not to say I will never return when the party is rebuilt. But for now, I (and so many conservatives who have principles) am no longer wanted in the GOP, and I shall remain sundered from them until the day conservatism returns to the national consciousness. Damn them. Damn them all to Hell.
20 comments:
Damn them. Damn them all to Hell.--Patrick M.
Uh-oh! I said I'd be your campaign manager should you ever decide to run for president of the US of A.
I'm gonna hafta defend that "Damn them" statement. It will follow you all your political life!
Thanks for making my future job impossible.
PS. I feel your pain.
All I can say is AMEN!
Shaw: Don't worry about defending it. Anybody wants to condemn me for it, I've got some other words I'd use in response. The first sentence would start with the word "go" and end with the word "yourself."
Besides, my daddy said I'd never make it in politics. Thus the bridge burning.
Although I thought you were happy with your candidate and party, thus I'm not sure what pain you're feeling.
Beth: Maybe if more of the base left the party to die, then we could constitute a new Conservative party. Or at least take over the Libertarian party, make it the other party.
Patrick you are saying what a lot of conservatives are thinking. All of us have done a lot of soul searching on this which is sad.
My husband told me Rush said he thinks this whole McCain thing could be good for the GOP. The GOP, as you stated, has been slowly corroding and is now emerging as the new 'left' pretty much. We need a cleaning of the house so that we can emerge as a 'conservative' party once again.
It is wierd how Europe and other socialist countries are becoming more conservative and we are becoming more socialist. It is cyclical and the same will happen with us. Once we see how stupid the liberal ideas are that are held in both the republican party and the democrat party, we will erase it from our platform and re-build. Eventually, the conservatives will come back after the libs mess things up.
If all the liberal Republicans would just join the Democratic party, that would make the most sense, and have the Republican party be left with pure conservatism.
Good for you. I would be cautious to jump right into the Libertarian camp, there's a lot of weirdos over there. Not saying they don't have some good ideas but society couldn't function under the Libertarian blueprint. I was, up until the Illinois primary registered Independent. Every once in a while I would vote for Republican judge or vote against some corrupt Irish Democrat who had been in office way too long but other than that I pretty much always voted Democrat, especially in national elections. The alternative is just too scary.
The problem with your beloved conservatives is that most of the people who call themselves conservative also want to turn this country into a Protestant theocracy. Sure there are a few who are just small government fiscal conservatives but there are so many hypocrites that frankly, its all bullshit. As you pointed out, the Republicans are for anything but small government. The government has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 7 years and they are prying further into your personal life and bedroom than ever before.
We need government. We need good government, limitied or not. The New Deal took this country out of the great depression which was caused by, guess what, too little government regulation and intervention. Guess what happened when we deregulated savings and loans? I think you get what I am saying. Sure deregulating the trucking and airline industry was a no brainer but those don't directly affect the economy as much as the financial markets but now with fuel the way it is American manufacturers are paying twice as much for freight now as they were 5 years ago, guess who pays for that? I bought fruit the other day and it cost me $50. Sure it was a lot and it was from Whole Foods but still, $50 for some cherries and other berries? That's trucking, thats fuel, a little regulation could be a nice relief.
I mean, you do live in a society. Man could have never advanced if we didn't form societies. In a society, every man for himself doesn't work. There has to be some sort of collective between all members. So to say that you/we bare no responsibility to the black kid who grew up in the Projects and went to run down inner city schools is all fine and well until he breaks into your home and holds your family at gunpoint. You would be singing a different song about what kind of services you could have provided him earlier in life after you had a gun in your face. Sure, he made the choice to rob you and from your point of view, he didn't have to rob you but what led him to that decision and did we as society even give him the tools to make a better decision? Your Republican buddies would say yes, everyone in America has the same opportunity, Democrats would say that's bullshit. Who do you think is right?
You couldn't be more correct Patrick. They didn't get it when they lost in the midterms and they're still not gettin' it.
Let us remember Patrick that the Declaration of Independence rightfully asserts:
"...That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."
I stand with you my brother.
- Soapster
"...everyone in America has the same opportunity, Democrats would say that's bullshit. Who do you think is right?
Americans are provided equal protection under the law. That being the case, the same opportunity is afforded each and every American. What is grossly distorted (and in large part by liberal Democrats) is the insurance then that everyone who embarks in an endeavor, that their respective opportunity or opportunities lead to success.
Rivka, Beth, Soapster: Pass it on, then. Only by a mass exodus of conservatives will the GOP (Going Obama Party)be either brought back or destroyed.
Toad: I'll get into the difference between the GOP and conservatism in a later post (as well as some of the info you requested), but in a nutshell, the reason I'm abandoning the GOP is because they aren't conservative anymore. The LP has more of a claim on the conservative mantle now, except maybe their obsession with the antiwar crowd.
As for government regulation, the best way is to have as little as necessary for a cohesive society. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are embracing this idea, with the GOP leadership wrapping "conservative" window dressing around it.
I'd say more, but the Soapster already covered the opportunity angle well enough. It's how you define it as opposed to the conservative definition.
You sound like you would make a very good Democrat
"You sound like you would make a very good Democrat."
How exactly is that? We're asserting the same thing Reagan asserted during his First Inaugural Address in January of 1981.
"Government is not the solution to our problem; Government is the problem."
Every solution to every present crisis (mind you they are by and large Government induced to begin with) coming from the mouth's of Democrats is yet more government.
Soap:
Those were just words, Reagan didn't really mean it. How many times did he raise taxes? 4? 5?
Patrick:
What's their obsession with the antiwar crowd? I would have assumed that small government people would be against an empire building war which costs billions of dollars per year and only gives the government that much more strength, size and demand for resources such as your taxes.
Matt: But I don't want to get the required lobotomy to do so. But read on and you'll learn more....
Soapmatic: Couldn't have said it better myself.
Well, I could, but why show up the Gipper....
Toad: The Iraq war sitch is just too much to go into in the comments. Maybe fodder for a crosspost.
Well, I don't know about all the rest of it, but at least you gave up the Republicans.
I'll keep the seat to my left open for you.
Well, the rest of it is that the GOP is going left. They can have that seat. I'll stay firmly ensconced on the right right here.
The left is so out of touch if they think someone wanting to leave the GOP is liberal, quite the opposite! We want to purge the liberals from our party, not join them! The true conservatives simply do not have good leadership right now, but when liberalism fails (and mark my word, it will fail) then conservatism can rise again.
I'm sure about hell, how about sitting through a root canal with no pain killers?
The GOP will drift to the left until 2012 after Obama has his first term. Then the voters will sober up and realize ... crap ... we elected Lenin's student. And not the one who married Yoko
Patrick, the problem that you are having can be laid directly at the feet of the partisans.
Your stance, to move outside of the party and be independent, suggests an openness that many are just plain unwilling or unable to accept.
A quick perusal of some of the sites that we both read shows that no matter what, the partisans defend their man or woman. Sometimes to the detriment of the American people.
The parties, and by extension, the candidates, now seem to exist almost solely for their own self interest.
I think you will see that while life will no longer fit neatly into a nice box, the freedom to choose, unencumbered by party politics will be liberating.
By the way, the GOP, like the Democratic Party is as dead as Germany was on the day of the Normandy Invasion. It is just a matter of time.
As it typically is with most institutions.
Yep, the need to defend was one of the things that bother me. McCain was a person I couldn't defend on principle.
But I don't necessarily think either party will die completely.
Remaking the GOP into what most of us conservatives are after. It just may come after this country takes a turn so far left you feel like a conservative.
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