Why I dont vote Republican

Great Debates
1

In general the Republican party stands for small government, strong defense, low taxes, and free enterprise. So what’s wrong with that? I actually agree with those goals. I think they are all worthy and should be pursued to the betterment of us all. And yet, I don’t vote Republican, or at least not anymore. My first election in 1988 when I voted for Bush Sr., I voted Clinton in 92 (mostly because of the Sax playing, but hey, I was in college and that was cool!). In 1996 I voted Clinton again because the Sax was still cool. In 2000 I voted Gore only because while Bush Jr. seemed like a guy I wanted to drink a beer with, I didn’t want him as a CIC.

But after 9/11 I became a huge Bush supporter. I thought he handled everything that came at us like a pro. When we went into Afghanistan I was proud of my president. He saw a threat, got the support, and when at them like they had never seen before. When he turned to Iraq, I was less enthused, but I got behind him because he must know what I don’t know, and if he said Iraq is dangerous I believed him. I was actually going to vote for him in 2004 until…

The Republican Convention. I saw hundreds of Republicans wearing band-aids mocking John Kerry and his purple heart. It was also the first time I really noticed the constant use of Republicans=Real Americans. I saw the swift boat ads, and was even more disgusted. But what really turned my stomach was the complete lack of any Republican leadership calling out these disgusting tactics for what they were. The RNC had dropped to the lowest dominator and nobody was trying to pull them back up.

In 2008 it got worse. I watched another convention and this time not only did they equate republican with “real American” they actually stood up and made fun of being a community organizer like it was bad thing. I saw Palin enflame the base with lies and name calling. I did see a small glimmer when McCain refuted the little old lady about Obama being a terrorist, but it was to little and to late.

And now… Republican leaders allow things like the Birther’s to continue. They bow to people like Beck and Limbaugh who while they seem to know how to run a government have never actually run/managed/owned a single business. They use words like “socialism”, “Marxist”, and “communist” without actually knowing what they mean. They enflame and incite not with ideas and knowledge but with name calling and fear. They allow Fox News to be a mouth piece and yet show no restraint in that use. They allow them to slander, lie, and distort and yet they never correct.

They insist they want to “take back America for real Americans!”. What? So I’m not a real American because I don’t believe in the same Politics you do? My kids aren’t real Americans? My Wife? My Father-in-Law worked for the State Dept from the early 60s’ until 2001. He worked in some of the nastier places on this planet. Places that required his kids be driven around in bullet proof cars. He devoted his life to this country, he doesn’t vote Republican. He’s not a real American?

When does the insulting stop? When do you get back to be a party of ideals? Who will be the Republican version of a Joseph Welch? "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator… You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? “

Where is decency in the Republican party? Where are the leaders who will stand up and say “enough is enough!”. Where are the ideas that enflame passion, not hatred? I want to hear a speech by a Republican that not once mentions “real America”. Just tell me what you see as a vision for this country, make me believe it, show me how you would do better, then actually do it.

Stop trying to make me afraid of what we have, to make yourselves look braver by comparison. Just show me something!!!

2

Moved MPSIMS --> GD.

3

You spell like a Republican. (holymotherofgawd: INflame)

But I like the way you think. I’m always hoping for the day the rightwing nutjobs break off into their splinter party of teabaggers and give the Republican Party back to reasonable conservatives. It’d be nice if we had two parties that tempered each other as opposed to being mutually repugnant. Moderate people end up having to choos the side that irritates them the least.

4

LMAO. thank you for that, needed a good laugh today.

5

Gaudere, Gaudere, Gaudere

ETA: Don’t mention it.

6

I have other reasons why I don’t vote republican.

But you’ve posted why I don’t think anyone should vote Republican.

7

You certainly are to be respected for your boldness, posting something like that on the SDMB.

Regards,
Shodan

8

I think it’s pretty bold to post a criticism this weak on the SDMB.

9

If the GOP suffers anything BUT a crushing defeat in November, look for the rhetoric to get worse. The Tea Baggers will take any speck of good news and spin it as they being the ones responsible. With their own channel and network of mouthpieces, that will soon become the party line, “Tea Baggers helped defeat Democrats! We’re right!”

Even if they do suffer a defeat, Fox will spin it as something else. Like when McCain won, those on the right didn’t say it was because of his hateful rhetoric near the end of the campaign, the race-baiting, the Sarah Palin, no. Those on the right said it was because he wasn’t a TRUE conservative and oh if only a true conservative would run, then everything would have turned out differently

The last time I voted any Republican was in 2004, for someone in our state’s Assembly. No more, never again. I feel like you do. When they start using the “real Americans” shit, then they’ve fallen too far to be fixed. When nobody in their party calls out these Tea Baggers for lying, then it’s time to let the party die off.

10

That’s what they say, but not what they do. I have seen no serious effort by the Republicans to make the government smaller. As for defense, they treat the defense budget like it’s a giant pork barrel and support what ever project is being done in their district rather than looking at the needs of the soldiers. Right now the US is probably in the worst readiness it has been in years as we are using up equipment and personnel in Iraq that should be ready for a conflict with someone who actualy is a threat to our security.

11

I don’t think “Republican leaders allow things like the Birther’s to continue” is a fair criticism. It’s a free country; how exactly would the Republican leaders stop the birthers from uttering their nonsense? At worst, they lack the guts to condemn the birthers, but I don’t see how that makes them any worse than, say, Democratic leaders like John Kerry lacking the guts to condemn Michael Moore and his faction.

I agree that the Republican atmosphere right now is pretty damn distasteful, but it was the predictable reaction to the defeat of their most moderate leader, John McCain. Radicals and extremists are going to have disproportionate influence in the GOP until they, too, get decisively rejected by the voters. I’m just hoping that Obama doesn’t screw up so badly that the extremists could actually win.

12

This is why I don’t vote Republican; they aren’t a conservative party anymore. They support big, unfunded mandates when in power, and always pander to people who want to micro-manage many of people’s most personal decision (i.e. marriage, reproduction).

When I registered to vote in '96, I registered GOP because I considered myself a fairly libertarian minded person. I voted for Dole that year, but then voted Nader in '00 (in Florida, no less. No, I still don’t regret it*). Bush was such an atrocity that I naively supported Kerry in '04, and I formally became a Democrat (and a proud Obama supporter) in '08.

By that point, the idea of a conservative republican was a bit of a joke. Hell, The American Conservative Mortgage endorsed Kerry in '04 - the conversion to “big spending, the hell with deficits, let’s run around nation building” was so complete. Couple that with the hysterical rantings about homosexual rights or end of life decisions or strict allegiance to the War on Drugs, and I just can’t fathom why a conservative would vote Republican.

In my 32 years, the most fiscally responsible and socially laissez faire party has clearly been the Democrats (although GHW Bush gets my nod as a good President, and not in the Reagan-W. Bush mold)

*It was college. People were experimenting. Don’t derail.

13

Which will be the best thing for the left, in the long run. As Michael Lind writes:

14

And where should I post? This is the internet after all so “brave” doesn’t really come into play with regards to posting on message boards. Book me at the next Republican convention and I will read the exact same post.

However, you should be respected for your valid contributions to this thread and your razor sharp wit. Well done, sir, well done.

15

Please tell us about Micheal Moore and his faction. You can not even see his movies on mainstream TV. There must be some reason he is upsetting you. Lets hear it.

16

Right here, Dob. Thanks for doing so.

There are probably more “true conservatives” and “true libertarians” here than you’d think. Especially if you listen to the knee-jerk right-wingers who’ve convinced themselves that they’re bravely surviving persecution on a godless “lib’rul” message board.

As a Libertarian, I’ve gone through the same disillusionment you did. And as a Christian, I’ve been appalled by the hate and lies of the “Right”. And went from voting Republican to voting (and working) for Obama.

17

It will likely get worse. In 2010 the GOP will likely gain seats for a variety of reason (apathy among dem voters, the party in power loses seats in a midterm, energy among the GOP base, etc). It won’t be a grassroots support of the GOP where they win over tons of independents as much as a situation like MA where the democrats stay home and the GOP goes out in full force.

However once that happens and they gain several dozen seats, the GOP will take it as proof that their tactics of obstructionism, hypocrisy, misinformation, unrealistic policy (you can’t cut taxes, fight endless war and balance the budget at the same time), pathological lying, and moving closer and closer to McVeigh territory is a winning political strategy.

So it is going to get worse over the next few years IMO. However I personally think that when it does, the public will be pushed even further to the left. I have no idea how long the GOP brand will be damaged after all this is over.

18

Thank you very much, Dob. The developing GOP insanity seems largely ignored by many Republicans. When liberals and centrists point it out, we’re accused of “Same old story; Boy who cried wolf; Yadda yadda yadda.”

Even SDMB conservatives who seem relatively intellectual tend not to disown the insanity. I assume their attitude is “We need all the help we can get, even if it’s from imbeciles and lunatics”, but it leads me to ignore whatever they say.

I almost voted for Bush in 1988. Although I voted for Gore 2000, I ignorantly assumed GWB was a rational centrist like his father, and wasn’t overly worried about GWB’s election. I was happy about his promise to cut CO2 emissions.

Shortly after his inauguration he announced that he’d just learned CO2 was the inevitable result of carbon-based energy so couldn’t be cut after all. (Cheez, you’d think the NSA could have declassified a junior high chemistry textbook if necessary to keep Presidential candidate better informed.)

Attacking Afghanistan seemed necessary, if unlikely to do much good. By the time of Iraq War I had a truer picture of Rove-Cheney and their cabal. It is not true that the stupidity of the Iraq War was clear only in hindsight: hard-nosed Israeli militarists were pointing this out regularly in N.Y. Times Opinions during the lead-up to Iraq War. (When I mentioned this in another forum the reply was “Duhhh. Who reads N.Y. Times?” Heaven help, America.)

Anyway, thanks again for a great post, Dob.

19

I apologize if admitting that I might “ignore” Dopers is permitted only in BBQ Pit. Can I say that I give more credence to Dopers whose posts demonstrate higher rationality?

I’m sure we’d all agree that the GOP has no monopoly on nonsense. (Though if nonsense is controlled by a cartel, the modern GOP is surely the dominant cartel element! :cool: ) What annoyed me is the GOP Congressman/men who answered “I don’t know” when asked if Obama was born in the U.S.A.

When I mentioned this annoyance, a right-wing Doper answered that this Congressman was in the right: none of us know Obama’s birthplace; after all, even if Obama produced 30 witnesses and 40 birth certificates it could all be the fake evidence of an Islamist plot, perhaps assisted by extra-terrestrials.

Just for my curiosity, Mr. Danimal, what’s your stand on Congressmen who “don’t know” if Obama is American?

20

You haven’t brought anything to any discussion but drive-by swipes since November of 2008.