Democrats: The New Republicans
Picture it. From far above Iowa you zoom in. At first it looks like a patchwork of farm and industry. As you zoom, you near Cedar Rapids, IA, a community of about 120,000. There is nothing out of the norm so far. Continue zooming in to a small park on the Northeast side: you know, trees, a few outbuildings, picnic tables, the normal stuff. Keep zooming. Zoom in on a picnic taking place at this park. There are a few hundred guests, all of them here for the annual Linn County Democratic picnic. So far, nothing earthshaking, just games, food, fun…normal picnic stuff. Now, let’s pick out a little area at the picnic. It’s a children’s game that involves a large piece of colorful canvas cloth and beach balls. Everything seems to be in place: the children, the canvas, the balls, the man volunteering to facilitate this game. Only there is something unusual here – very, very unusual. You see, the volunteer standing here is a Republican. (Feel free to insert record-scratching sound here). I am that man.
What is a lifelong Republican doing volunteering at the Democratic picnic? Well, I had to do something. I have one or two disagreements with the direction the Republicans are going. I’ll give you a brief sampler:
Civil Rights Violations
Corporate Welfare
Death Penalty
Environment
Extraordinary Rendition
Foot Dragging on a Cease Fire in Lebanon
Geneva Conventions Violation
Guantanamo Bay
Homophobia
Human Rights Abuses
Illegitimate War
International Arms Trade
International Criminal Court
Media Consolidation
NSA Spying
Racial Profiling
Secret Detention Centers
Signing Statements
Spying on Peace Groups
Torture
Transparency
War Crimes
Xenophobia
But hey, what’s a few civilian deaths, tax breaks for oil companies, race-baiting, mercury pollution-belching factories, torture photos, international law violations, Nazis in the military, and war crimes among friends? It kind of makes me want to go to the window and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” ala Peter Finch as Howard Beale in “Network.” I am horrified by the behavior of our government. The Administration is abusing power, Congress is failing to hold them accountable and, if we let the Republicans continue to rule, we’ll have an even more skewed court system. Even the news business, once thought of as the “fourth estate” has gone from watchdog to the lapdog of the Administration. So, who is left? If the three branches of government won’t hold each other accountable, and if the press has taken a paid holiday, the only ones left to hold this government accountable is us, the people.
And so, here I am, a Republican without a party. As Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga expressed in Crashing the Gate, the Democrats haven’t exactly distinguished themselves in the last four years, but they’re the best game in town. Therefore, I’ve started this blog – RFD Blog – Republicans for Democrats.
So, what else can you and I do besides volunteering at the Linn County Democratic Picnic?
We can give. More than anything Progressive politicians need cash. You can give to your local Democratic Party headquarters. You can give to a local candidate.You can give to Moveon.org. You can give to the ACLU or Amnesty International.
You don’t have to give money to give of yourself. Candidates need help in knocking on doors, hosting get-to-know-the-candidate parties, calling neighbors and getting out the vote.
You can wear your convictions for everyone to see. I like Clothing of the American Mind. Please let me know if you have suggestions for other sites.
We can educate ourselves. Read progressive blogs. Listen to Air America and Democracy Now. If they are not in your area, you can listen to their Podcasts. Watch documentary DVD’s such as Manufacturing Consent, Why We Fight, The Corporation, or The Robert Greenwald Documentary Collection. When you are through with them, tell others about them and donate them to your public library.
We can write. You can add your comments to this blog. You can write letters to the editor, you can write your representatives in Congress.
CLICK HERE FOR 100 IDEAS OF HOW YOU CAN HELP WIN THE FIGHT FOR PROGRESSIVES IN AMERICA!
CLICK HERE FOR 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT THE RIGHT.
Feel free to join in the conversation. Please leave your comments below.
What is a lifelong Republican doing volunteering at the Democratic picnic? Well, I had to do something. I have one or two disagreements with the direction the Republicans are going. I’ll give you a brief sampler:
Civil Rights Violations
Corporate Welfare
Death Penalty
Environment
Extraordinary Rendition
Foot Dragging on a Cease Fire in Lebanon
Geneva Conventions Violation
Guantanamo Bay
Homophobia
Human Rights Abuses
Illegitimate War
International Arms Trade
International Criminal Court
Media Consolidation
NSA Spying
Racial Profiling
Secret Detention Centers
Signing Statements
Spying on Peace Groups
Torture
Transparency
War Crimes
Xenophobia
But hey, what’s a few civilian deaths, tax breaks for oil companies, race-baiting, mercury pollution-belching factories, torture photos, international law violations, Nazis in the military, and war crimes among friends? It kind of makes me want to go to the window and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” ala Peter Finch as Howard Beale in “Network.” I am horrified by the behavior of our government. The Administration is abusing power, Congress is failing to hold them accountable and, if we let the Republicans continue to rule, we’ll have an even more skewed court system. Even the news business, once thought of as the “fourth estate” has gone from watchdog to the lapdog of the Administration. So, who is left? If the three branches of government won’t hold each other accountable, and if the press has taken a paid holiday, the only ones left to hold this government accountable is us, the people.
And so, here I am, a Republican without a party. As Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga expressed in Crashing the Gate, the Democrats haven’t exactly distinguished themselves in the last four years, but they’re the best game in town. Therefore, I’ve started this blog – RFD Blog – Republicans for Democrats.
So, what else can you and I do besides volunteering at the Linn County Democratic Picnic?
We can give. More than anything Progressive politicians need cash. You can give to your local Democratic Party headquarters. You can give to a local candidate.You can give to Moveon.org. You can give to the ACLU or Amnesty International.
You don’t have to give money to give of yourself. Candidates need help in knocking on doors, hosting get-to-know-the-candidate parties, calling neighbors and getting out the vote.
You can wear your convictions for everyone to see. I like Clothing of the American Mind. Please let me know if you have suggestions for other sites.
We can educate ourselves. Read progressive blogs. Listen to Air America and Democracy Now. If they are not in your area, you can listen to their Podcasts. Watch documentary DVD’s such as Manufacturing Consent, Why We Fight, The Corporation, or The Robert Greenwald Documentary Collection. When you are through with them, tell others about them and donate them to your public library.
We can write. You can add your comments to this blog. You can write letters to the editor, you can write your representatives in Congress.
CLICK HERE FOR 100 IDEAS OF HOW YOU CAN HELP WIN THE FIGHT FOR PROGRESSIVES IN AMERICA!
CLICK HERE FOR 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT THE RIGHT.
Feel free to join in the conversation. Please leave your comments below.
posted by RFD Blog at
7:52 PM
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4 Comments:
Way to go. It makes me very happy to see you take this stand, and proud that you are doing it publicly. Country over party. You, sir, are a true patriot, something that is getting hard to find in some circles.
But, rather than simply laud you for your willingness to put country over party that is lost among Republicans, I must lecture you for the lateness of your conversion!
I have known so many people whom I like and respect, and who vote for people whose values and priorities are in direct conflict with what they seem, personally, to stand for. The things you site on your site from contempt for the law (NSA wire tapping) to contempt for the very idea of America (abu Graib, Guantanamo).
But I would go one step further in this thinking because I believe there are other less glaring moral issues that seem to be inconsistent with the views of my Republican friends...
Things like protecting the environment, putting food on poor kids' tables regardless of whether their parents are upstanding, protecting woman from violent men, limiting powerful corporations' ability to run rough-shod over individuals, limiting the effects of the racism that is still so deeply entrenched in our culture, restraining the government to serve the people's interest's not its own, knowing the difference between harnessing capitalism and worshipping it, not forcing a woman to be a slave to an embryo or fetus that owes its very existence to her, providing a basic minimum standard of health care, so that the price of being poor isn't extended from a hard life to having to watch your child die because you can't afford health care, and the price of being born poor isn't to die needlessly because your parents aren't successful.
These are good people, yet they site taxes, "big government", etc. as reasons they can't vote democratic, in spite of the fact that democrats govern much more in accordance with their principles.
As far as taxes go, I have never understood trading fundamental things like a woman's right to choose or Miranda, etc. for what amounts to enough cash for an extra TV for the porch. And never forget, you get what you pay for!
As far as "big government" goes, the alternative to "big government" is omnipotent corporations. These are far worse because you can't vote them out of power. Erin Brockovich may have been one woman bringing a large, immoral corporation to heel, but she could only do it because the government was behind her with laws, that had teeth - laws passed primarily by Democrats. Big government, strong government. But if we are honest, Republicans haven't been about limiting government, but limiting government power over corporations and increasing its power over individuals - "Out of the boardroom and into the bedroom." The exact opposite of what is needed to maintain the balance of power needed in a free society.
Why do I bring all of this other stuff up? Because, sadly, the travesty that is the Republican party today started years ago, and is the expected outcome of Republican philosophy left unchecked. Corporations are inherently dangerous without oversite, because they start with the same rights as you and I, but have massive power, and very little accountability. Look at the effects of deragulation on the press and the media. Five companies choose that vast majority of all the news available. Are they serving us? Has the guiding hand of the market given us the best end result as the Wall Street Journal claims over and over? Health care? Ours is the most expensive by a large percentage, and except for the richest 2%-3% is very mediocre. Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the USA!
Civil liberties? Reagan's Attorney General, Ed Meese, fought bitterly to over turn Miranda, the subordination of the idea of innocent until proven guilty, to the idea of lock 'em up they're probably guilty, that is the essence of Guantanamo. And don't get me started on the Supremes!! Republicans are finally going to get their wish, and very few of them are going to like it.
Regarding your sentiment that " the Democrats haven’t exactly distinguished themselves in the last four years." My response has always been the somewhat glib "the only thing I hate worse than a Democrat is a Republican."
By this I mean, it is a GIVEN that the system is flawed, so lack of perfection is irrelevant. It really just boils down to whether I want an inefficient effort trying to enhance the lives of the weak, and pay and extra couple of percent in taxes, or an inefficent effort to transfer more power to the powerful, and save a grand in taxes. Easy choice if you ask me.
Anyway, I am solidly behind you, rant or no rant.
Most sincerely, Phred
http://thephrog.com
http://therealpatriotact.com
PS: You site the ACLU. I have never understood the Republican hostility to an organization that has the primary mission of protecting people from communists to skin heads to Klansmen to joe Lunchbox, from an over-reaching government!
Dear Phred,
You are right. I am sorry to be so late to the conversation. This has been a long path for me. In the end, I'm proud that we ended up on the same side. You are a real patriot and I'm proud to call you my friend. I've added a link on rfdBlog to your Phrog Blog. It's worth reading.
Tony
Welcome to the tent, Brother. Your passion shines through. I've passed the site on to lots of my friends, who will do likewise, I'm sure.
Be well and full - I'll visit often and respond when it seems right. There are lots of ways to get involved and I'm glad you have links to different organizations. Of course there's moveon.org, democracyforamerica.com, giveemhellharry.com, barbaraboxer.com, just to hame a few...I regularly write to my congressional representatives and they're usually pretty good at writing back. We must have dialogue at all levels. I agree w/ dispepticskeptic in that we also need to protect the environment, feed the poor. Check in on Sojourners, a progressive Christian movement to bring about social change.
Thank you for the extra resources. I had never heard of Sojourners. It’s good to see the neo-conservatives do not have a monopoly on God.
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