Sunday, April 02, 2006

Intolerant Republicans?

I was talking to Darkstar earlier and he said something that made me think. Unlike with so many others, I don't think he intended it to sound as narrow as it did but it definitely got the thought-juices flowing. Then it made me think of something Ehlonna said on Waterdeep a while back and it was like one big thought party.

I'm a Republican, I've recently come out of the closet with that. I'm instantly the bad guy in a lot of circles but I'm not here to re-hash that. We're supposed to be the narrow minded party, the party of elitism and all that crap but that's not what I'm seeing so much of lately.

All of a sudden having faith has become something to mock. If a person chooses to deal with a situation in their life by turning to a God figure, this makes them a target to be mocked by the so-called liberal minded people. This confuzzles me.

I don't refer to the Christian God here, this could be any God figure from Buddha to Satan. It just seems like if you choose to incorporate faith into your everyday life, you will be mocked by those who claim to be open-minded. Me, I'm spiritual rather than religious. I am not any specific religion but I do believe in something, some greater powers.

I don't like the moralists of my party who claim God will be displeased if I have an abortion or tell me God wouldn't want scientists to work on stem cell research. I don't accept God as a reasoning behind those arguments, no one has a direct line to any of the God figures so no one is going to speak as their agent to me. However, I have respect for people who, when faced with situations, turn to their God for strength.

I envy people their faith, I don't have much faith. When the fate of the Sago miners was uncertain, the families got together in a church and while it didn't make the outcome any brighter it did seem to bring comfort to the people who had so much to lose in that mine. Where does anyone get off mocking these people because they turn to God? I didn't see any of the Replublican blogs I read doing the mocking so something is wrong in the grand scheme of things.

Someone said to me recently "Oh, you're Republican. That means you want to overturn Roe, you defend Bush and crucify Hillary." Whoa. Who's the narrow minded stereotyper here? Luckily for me I've never needed an abortion but I would go with a friend who did if asked. I've never expressed any want to overturn Roe, I didn't realise this was an automatic with being Republican. Do I defend the President? I'm uncertain. Web-loafer had a really great post that made a lot of sense to me. I don't defend the aftermath of the war in Iraq. That is where I say without hesitation that the President screwed up. We didn't have an accurate plan for post-Saddam Iraq and way too many people have died. I support the troops and I liked Web-loafer's speculations about Kerry. Had Kerry or Gore been President on 9/11/2001 who knows what would have happened next. Maybe it would have been better planned, maybe not. I don't know enough to presume to make that call.

I don't see the President as an evil man, I think he's probably a lot less conservative than people believe but the hard liners still have control of the GOP and will continue to do so until a modern Republican stands up and says hello. As for Hillary, if she wants to run for President more power to her. I couldn't bring myself to vote for her but not because she's Hillary. As a NY Senator, she hasn't done very much for the state and I don't think she's had enough experience yet. I'd like to see her sit another term in the Senate and do more before going for the White House. I also don't think she's running, just a hunch but I don't think she has any intent on running.

As soon as Darkstar and I got into this, he immediately said something about 'casting Satan out' and it made me scratch my head. Why do otherwise sentient beings hear "Republican" and automatically think Pat Robertson? I accept Satanism as an established religion so in my argument for faith, if the God figure the person turns to is Satan then that's fine with me.

I believe that's called tolerance.

Has my party really become so badly tarnished in image?

I am a Republican. I accept that people turn to God for strength and I respect that. I accept that some people don't believe in God and I respect that. I accept that some people are pro-life and some are pro-choice and I respect both sides for their convictions. I accept that some people are narrow minded in their tolerance and use God as an argument to condemn people and I don't respect that. I am pro-choice, pro-life, pro-gay-marriage, pro-faith, pro-aethist, pro-government, pro-individual.

I think it's a sad state of affairs when a person's beliefs become mocking fodder simply because the beliefs differ from the other person. Makes me wonder who really is the intolerant one here, it's not this li'l ole Republican. I think I'll start a new branch, the liberal Republicans. I can't be the only one out there.

It's such a large and troubled world. All the mocking does nothing but expand the problem. As for me, I'd like to be even the tiniest part of the solution.

1. As, until recently, an outsider who had little exposure to the parties aside from the global view (which is narrow, distorted, and typically biased), I have to say that yes, the party - both parties, really - have a rather tarnished view going right now. Perhaps this is just me, but the political games seem to overwhelm and everyone seems to need to be hardline one way or the other when they are speaking as the party, from either side. It makes me unwilling to even try to figure out which party I’m more in line with, I can only find the odd speaker from one side or the other that I feel any sort of connection with to give me any sort of feeling of alignment. Maybe I’m just not used to the extreme hardball me-against-you mentality of the American political scene, I don’t know. I just feel more comfortable putting my support with ideas and ideals than parties right now, the official parties bother me.

   And that is, of course, speaking in general of the parties, their public faces and whatnot. I’m with you, I don’t understand the need to malign someone for saying they are Republican or Democrat. Labels of any sort just don’t cut it for me when it comes to knowing a person and their worth.

   Kel  on  04/03  at  07:38 AM

2. this comes as a surprise to you Kittyn? you REALLY have to ask this?
   you, who have moved in the world of Talkradio? and watcher of FoxNews?
   and who wrote so sweetly of Bob Grant? BOTH parties have been tainted,
   by extremists, but the Republicans, are by far the worst offenders.
   bowing to the religeous right and big corporations, I have strong view
   on both sides of the spectrum, so I am like you in that respect. and this
   is why I am unable to define myself. I adore Lynn Samuels, yet can agree
   with Hannity too! yet I also can agree with Alan Colmes, there are too many
   many people who feel compelled to define themselves as one or the other
   and I dont think it is that simple.

    on  04/03  at  09:23 AM

3. Darn I had a nice long convoluted comment
   then I decided to “preview”

   and it’s gone, will be back later am at
   work and have to leave this station for a
   while.

   Dan Kauffman  on  04/03  at  05:57 PM

4. It’s not being Republican that is the problem...nor is it having faith. It’s the melding of the two. Where is this “Separation of Church and State” we’re supposed to support that’s in our governments tenants?

   There in lies the problem. Unfortunately, Bush has crammed “gods will” down our throats. He went into Iraq with his own crusade in gods name. He should be doing it for the good of our nation and democracy and to eliminate the threats to our lifestyle. THIS is not how he presents it. He has created a modern day crusade. He is our “employee” first, who is to have the interests of the people in his mind first. This is what our votes hired him to do.  Not cram religion down our throats . That’s what people go to church for. This country will stand strong no matter what is considered the “ruling religion”. We aren’t run by Vatican City, or the Pope or any other religion or religious faction. We as a nation are a melting pot both in race and religion, and yet, as a party, this Republican regime has danced on our rights to enjoy our lives as we see fit. “The pursuit of happiness” has been thrown out the window. If stem cells mean we can make our lives happier, using the cast off umbilical (sp) chords of pregnancies, yet Bush says we can’t use them...then that’s just wrong. If cloning body parts is bad when it could save a blind mans eyes, then that’s just wrong.

   Yes, there’s lots of things wrong with America, yet to force god fueled family values down our throats as a solution is far too extreme. Then you are villaified if you disagree. Maybe get the family unit to be a unified force first. What they rally behind is their own issue, as long as they rally. The unity will save the family first.

   If I’m Buddhist, I don’t believe in the same god as Bush, yet my family remains a unit in which our OWN family values can flourish. The same can be said for an atheist family, a satanic family, a wiccan family and so on. Yet Bush and his Republican leming Congress has alienated the rest of his country.

   I don’t hate Republicans. I hate the über-godfearing ones. The ones that trample freedom of speech by regulating music and television. If something offends you, turn the channel. We have like 400 stations at our disposal. Go watch god TV if Janet Jacksons boob offends you so.

   So faith is ok. But they preach elitist faith and thats bad.

   Darkstar  on  04/05  at  05:14 PM

5. I’ve never been in the closet about the fact that I’m a Republican. So I guess I’m just used to being cast in the evil light. I’m especially a fan of people who try to say that because I’m not white I should automatically be a Democrat. Yeah okay, how’s that for stupid. Let’s all base our political views on our race instead of our own specific political views.

   And people can bite me about the whole “Separation of Church and State” argument because they’re taking it out of historical context. The Founding Fathers were not all atheist and anti-religion. What they intended to ban was any government that actually sheperds people into church and forces them to worship. That’s a big difference from what’s going on today.

   And if conservatives can give up tax money to fund abortions then why can’t liberals give up some tax money for Baptist Organization #3. It goes both ways. But apparently it’s only okay when it’s YOUR party benefiting.

   Incidentally I do not support the reversal of Roe v. Wade, I was just using that as an example. 

   Anyway I have to stop this I’m getting annoyed. And what annoys me the most are people who don’t know why they believe in a particular party. I hate hearing people blab on with bullshit bandwagon propaganda “peace not war” blah blah but meanwhile they had no alternate solution then and they don’t have one now.

   Anyway this ain’t my blog. I usually save this crap for my blog haha.

   Just wanted to weigh in. Believe what you want to believe and don’t buy into the hype.

   Riss  on  04/05  at  11:47 PM

6. Rissah, you caught my fire exactly!  I’m applauding you here, you just can’t see it.  I agree with everything you just said and I thank you for saying it the way you did.  I’ve been a flake lately, I never used to care but somewhere along the way I became a bit of a wimp.  That has to go.

   Thank you.

   WebKittyn  on  04/05  at  11:57 PM

7. Kentucky Dan, thank you for stopping by this place.  It always humbles me when people whose blogs I admire take the time to stop by.

   James, I agree with you on Lynn and Sean.  I don’t know what’s up with my head lately!  I’m enjoying this though, thanks for commenting and you really should blog more!

   Kel, welcome to our screwed up country!

   DS, you said a lot I can understand but don’t agree with, I may use what you said in a follow up post.

   WebKittyn  on  04/06  at  12:00 AM
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