Coming Out

I have to admit it—after years of denial, internal struggle with my emotions and with my very identity, I can no longer kid myself. Republicans just don’t attract me any more. In fact, as the years have passed, they have begun to repel me. It wasn’t always like this. Once, I was able to be passionate about them. But the party has changed, and my basic instincts haven’t.

• There’s John Ashcroft. It was bad enough when he was in the Senate, trying to criminalize abortion and discriminate against homosexuals. Now he is leading the Bush Administration’s charge to wipe out civil liberties in the name of “homeland security.” I’m old enough to remember the truly great line of the Viet Nam war—“We had to burn the village down in order to save it.” Now there is a sentiment Ashcroft can embrace!  Let’s protect the American Way of Life by trashing America’s Constitution.
• There’s hypocrisy. There they are, Ashcroft and Bush—both staunch defenders of “states rights”—telling Oregon citizens what that means: It means that states have the right to pass laws that this Administration agrees with. Oregon citizens may have voted twice to allow doctors to assist in the suicide of terminally ill patients—but Doctor Ashcroft knows better than those voters! Nine states may have legalized medical marijuana use—but Ashcroft threatens to prosecute those who obey their own state’s laws.
• There’s intellectual dishonesty. Is the economy in the toilet? Government running a deficit? Your dandruff getting worse? Whatever is going wrong, it is all because of 9-11 and Osama Bin Laden. Not the fault of this government—no siree! We’d have had a surplus, even with those big tax cuts. Business would have been great, no matter what those pesky indicators said back in September. Give me a break!
• There’s corruption. Anyone notice how much of the tax “relief” and “economic stimulus” went to big oil and other corporate fat cats who—just coincidentally—supported Bush during the election? This administration gives welfare to corporate giants (without requiring them to create any jobs with the money) and sermons about personal responsibility to the poor.
• There’s Indiana’s GOP legislative delegation. They used up the surplus to give tax cuts, and now are whining that it is gone and that it’s the Governor’s fault. Even more annoying, they keep insisting that the state “cut the fat”—knowing perfectly well that there isn’t any fat left.  They are all members of the “no tax for any reason, any time!” chorus. They spend their time posting the Ten Commandments, introducing bills to prohibit gay adoption, and pandering to Eric Miller and his right-wing clones.
• There’s the rank and file that chose these bozos. Republicans used to believe in limited government—free market economics, and personal liberty. Now, they want the government to turn us into a “Christian nation.” They want to outlaw abortion, impose (their) prayer in the public schools, and teach creationism to biology students. These are the people who argue that Harry Potter is part of a Satanic plot, that people who don’t trust John Ashcroft with vast new police powers are unpatriotic, that “Hollywood Jews” are scheming to implement the “gay agenda.” The rational folks have pretty much left the field to the wing nuts.