WebKittyn Warbles
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.
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.
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