Here's
another Republican with eyes wide open. I spotted this one on a comment thread
here.
Conservatives are about nothing but destruction now. And I can't stand the lies and hypocrisy that spew from their mouths every time they're interviewed.
I revere Ronald Reagan. I became an independent because Bush senior was too moderate and infuriated me by capitulating on the budget. I cheered the Contract with America. I have nothing but contempt for little Bush because of his broad betrayal of conservative ideals. In my 28 years of voting, I have only voted once for a Democrat (Clinton, first term). I'm voting straight Democratic ticket this time, though, because I've had enough of the crazed lunatics that have hijacked the conservative movement and seek to seize control of the country through any means necessary.
Think about it...s/he would probably still be voting for Republicans if they hadn't shown themselves to be so afraid of this:
Our goal should be to stick to our guns on those core values that make this country great, show a spirit of flexibility and sustained attention that can achieve those goals, and try to create the sort of serious, adult, consensus around our problems that can admit Democrats, Republicans and Independents of good will.
- Barack Obama
That's great and all about the people switching, but this selective amnesia/propaganda about Saint Raygun has got to stop once and for all. He was the point of the spear for this extreme insanity that has brought so much death and destruction to the world over the last 30-40 years.
ReplyDeleteI've begun to really wonder about the mental capacity of people who cannot see this, and this is based on so many people in my own life as well. It's really weird.
"this selective amnesia/propaganda about Saint Raygun has got to stop once and for all."
DeleteI certainly sympathize. Reagan radicalized me in the 6th grade, with the nightmares I got about nuclear war. My class voted Carter in that election.
This makes me think of the observation some people have made that if you want to understand the President's politics, you have to look not only at community organizing in an Alinskian sense but also to the Black Church, broadly put. Generally, you are welcome in a Black Church, no matter who you are. You may have terrible crimes on your hands, but the community is there to help you as you put them behind you. Of course there's hypocrisy etc., but there is real power there too. Real transformation happens on a daily basis through the institutional Black Church.
Politically, the President's whole approach to the right-of-center has been to make it easier for them to politically come to Jesus, no questions asked. You want to show up on Sunday, you can come. You don't remind those people who do of their worst--you don't ignore it--but you help them chart a way forward.
Do we accept the vote for Obama of the white people who somehow don't get that Reagan made it OK to be racist again in political discourse? That oppose the Klan but who move to the other side of the elevator when one of them comes in? Damn right we do. And we make a point of have a conversation with that person, listening, and sharing.
At this point I'm willing to give people their Reagan love if they're simply willing to sit down and have a conversation like an adult.
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