Warning: Rant to follow.
I have always really liked the "Abbreviated Pundit Round-up" on the front page. Mostly because of the snarky reduxes that are an excellent reality check to the fantasy world of most pundits, but also because it points out Op-Ed pieces that I wouldn't otherwise know to read.
Maybe I'll have to stop because it's getting to be bad for my health. You see, most of the columnists in the APR are of a more delusional conservative delusional bent. And it makes my blood boil at times.
Take for instance the article at the end of today's APR by Sophia Nelson. It is entitled, "It's My Party, But I Don't Feel Part of It." She's a Black Republicans bemoaning how narrow (and narrow-minded) the Republican Party is these days. But that's not the frustrating part...
"I'm a Republican because I believe in a republican form of government, in individual liberty, the rule of law and civic virtue."
Seriously? That's why you're a Republican? Because, you know, I'm a Democrat and I believe in each of those four things. Let's break it down real easy now:
"I'm a Republican because I believe in a republican form of government."
You've said you have a college education, so I'm going to assume that you didn't pick your party because it shares a name with the type of government that you want to govern you. So you believe in a republican form of government. So does every American who also believes in the Constitution because that really important document requires that the Federal Government be republican thanks articles describing the nature and make-up of the Government. I believe in a republican form of government like the one laid out in the Constitution. In fact, that's one reason I'm not a Republican; somewhere, your party forgot that the Constitution is the most important string of words in America.
"I'm a Republican because I believe...in individual liberty."
Oooh! OOooOoh! ME TOO! Well, that part about believing in individual liberty part. I mean, individual liberty is as American as apple pie. And that's why I'm not a Republican. Because I want a government run and staffed by people who don't think its cool to incarcerate people ad infinitum just because they claim they can. Because I want a government that believes in ensuring certain rights are never taken away rather than ensuring that certain rights are never granted (I'm looking at you, Gay Marriage Amendment). There is currently no standing amendment to the Constitution that takes rights away from citizens; there once was, Prohibition, but it got repealed. The Constitution is all about explicitly ensuring that there are certain liberties Americans will always enjoy. Why belong to a party that spits on your notion of individual liberty? Seems like you're a Republican because you're a dupe.
"I'm a Republican because I believe in...the rule of law."
Then why do so many Republican officials (cough Ted Stevens Richard Nixon Dick Cheney Alberto Gonzales Mark Foley cough) end up being investigated, indicted and convicted of felonies? Why do you back an administration that has systematically attempted to dismantle or circumvent the laws that have ably ruled this land for centuries? Warrantless wiretaps -- Unconstitutional. Near dissolution of Habeas Corpus -- Probably Unconstitutional. If you believe in the rule of law, why again are you a Republican?
"I'm a Republican because I believe in...civic virtue."
Please don't confuse me with Katie Couric, but, and not to belabor the point, "Who, specifically, is someone who does not believe in civic virtue?" I mean, who doesn't love good personal habits that improve the community. Frankly, this is another thing that is not a partisan belief, but a probably Universal trait in humans, but it is definitely an American tradition. "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" is not just a great quote by Ben Franklin, but a charge to civic virtuosity. The "American" dream is predicated on the idea that if you're civically virtuous, you can go far in this country.
I believe you're a Republican because you're either a dupe or a zealot.
Only someone who is brainwashed or close-minded would think that those four ideas you believe in are specific to a Party in this country. Those four ideas are a part of the bedrock of this nation. They are not something that only a few can lay claim to. And it makes me sick that you are just one in a long line of Republicans who think that they are the sacred bearers of those values. You either do not know any Democrats (anymore) or you are prejudicial against them that you cannot see that, Red or Blue, they believe in the same basic things as you. No wonder the level of civil discourse has sunk so low in this country. You cannot argue with a zealot, as we learned with McCarthy. Further evidence of your dupitude is that you fell for H.W. Bush's "message of a 'kinder, gentler' America." I bet you also nearly had a religious experience when Dubya unveiled his "compassionate Conservative" label. Honestly, looking back, you haven't realized it was all a bunch of crap to dupe people like you? Well, I am sorry that you've been living in a nightmare.
So, Sophia Nelson, WAKE UP. Arise from that phantasmal reality you're currently inhabiting and rejoin the rest of us. There are a lot of good reasons besides those four you listed to have traditionally conservative values and belong to a party that practices them (heck, in some cases, Dems are more "conservative" these days); the only reason to only list those four values as a reason to belong to a particular party is if that party is morally and politically bankrupt. So try to reevaluate not just what you want American to look like, but reevaluate just which people and which Party will best to able to realize your vision for America.