Republican Party, R.I.P. 1854-2004

[x-g.o.p.er]

The Republican Party is dead. She died a slow, painful death, but predictable nonetheless. Oh, the name “Republican” will live on. But the party of that name exists no more.

It has become over-run with intolerance, bigotry, unchecked spending, and a thirst for war. It’s “big tent” mantra rings true, as long as you are a homophobic, religious zealot that sees a terrorist behind every tree and under every rock. Paranoid, power hungry extremists who want to institute their way of thinking as the law of the land, with no room for debate or dissent, have inundated what was once a great political party.

As civil liberties are being curtailed, intolerance and bigotry is being encouraged. What consenting adults do in the privacy of their home is not the business of the government, yet the “party of small government” seems all to eager to exponentially expand it to peek into every bedroom and issue a decree as to what you can and cannot do.

The "party of fiscal responsibility" has sacrificed our economic prosperity at the altar of compassionate conservatism. Is it truly compassionate to pass on a debt that will not be paid off in four generations of my family? Is it compassionate to saddle each and every citizen with almost $40,000 of government debt?

And how much more of our national treasure in the form of American lives and dollars will be spent to ensure we have a perpetual enemy for our “war president”?

Four more years of the current administration would take us past the point of no return. It is something that we, as Democrats, cannot let happen.

With the Democratic Party, I see hope where there was none. A free flowing discussion of the issues, where everyone gets a chance to voice their opinion. Try to redress your grievances today with the current powers that be, and you will be slapped with a subpoena by the Justice Department for violating the Patriot Act.

I see a tolerance of all people and all belief systems. It is not our place to judge someone. I have beliefs that not everybody agrees with, and I believe judgment comes from God. I’m not asking you to believe what I believe. But I do think that people of different faiths can come together and discuss their beliefs without fear of retribution or judgment. It seems that the extremists on the right, however, would DEMAND that you believe their interpretation of religion, and do as they say. But generally not as they do, because what they do in the form of gay bashing and intolerance flies in the face of the teachings of Jesus. But they're going to heaven, and we're going to hell. Hmmmmmmm.

I also see no traitors, contrary to popular right-wing dogma. I see people concerned about the war on terror just like everybody else. But I see a sense of pragmatism over here that I don’t see over there, and that is reassuring. If we must sacrifice blood and treasure in the defense of this great republic we will, but we had better make damn sure it will not be to further the cause of some extremist vision for the future.

I know a lot of folks over the past few weeks are upset that the Democratic nominee is most likely going to be someone that wasn’t your first, second, or maybe even third choice. But I ask you, which is better, the third or fourth choice on the Democratic ticket, or the Orwellian path we are currently walking down right now?

[catzies]

1. Nice work. Well done.

[Richardo]

2. Excellent post, x-gop...

Well spoken, clear and - oh yeah - right on the money. :thumbsup: Keep 'em coming!

[mot78]

3. Well spoken

The Republicans were the old school liberals of this country, until they were taken over by the Dixiecrats and Neo-Cons.

[Whitacre D_WI]

4. Good post.

My hat's off to you.

And welcome to the party!

[Sparkle]

6. Do you like Santorium?

Just asking...

[x-g.o.p.er]

9. Rick Santorum? n/t

[Ripley]

30. Click on the blue words...

you'll get your answer! Funny. ;-)

[proud patriot]

5. Poetic Extiction a poem I wrote

it's my sig line :D

[Beetwasher]

7. Bravo! So Glad to Have You Aboard x-g.o.p.er!

You're a terrific addition to our little community!

[Arugula Latte]

10. Our "little" community is approaching 40,000 registered

*sniff* I remember when it was just a little site, maybe 13,000 or so... Oh, it's grown so much.

[Beetwasher]

16. I remember too!

Old timer!

[Bronco69]

8. Great post!

:-)

[tom_paine]

11. The Republicans have been infected with a bad case of Busheviks

for quite some time. It is only recently that this cancer has metastasized and the wound begun to fester and supperate.

On one thing I don't with you. I did not used to see traitors in people I disagreed with and still don't largely, but with one exception...

The Busheviks who have voted multiple times using their vacation homes. All the footsoldiers big and small who help spread lies and create lies, including the boys in the basement of AEIO and Heritage who psychoengineer those lying Right-Wing blast e-mails that circulate often falsely attributed to people who didn;t wrtie them or to people who neevr existed...they are traiotrs.

For all the Busheviks who stood by (perhaps purposefully, perhaps not) and allowed 9-11 to happen when they had wranings from literaly morer than a dozen intelligence agencies including the CIA (and just EXACTLY WHY did Ashcroft stop flying commercial in July 2001? What did he know and when did he know it? How come the Imperial Subjects of Amerika didn't get to know it? Ah, well, perhaps he'll investigate himself and his friends, like he did with the Antrhax Assassin and the Plame Leaker.

For the Busheviks who sold arms to the Ayatollah (was it really for hostages, or was it the tail end of the bargain that sealed the prolonged captivity of the 1980 Iran Hostages until Raygun was safely onthe throne?) and for all the Busheviks who diverted hundreds of FBI agents to Clinton's Underware drawer while Osama planned away...I call them all traitors.

For all those Busheviks who wish to silence and perhaps criminalize dissent, I call them traitors and would take the field against them in a moment.

Playing Mr. Nice Guy to Totalitarian Monsters is what got us into this mess, I maintain. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Now that is not say that I will be as dirty and dishonest as a Bushevik (not to be confused with the larger remnants of the now-defunct Republican Party no the Imperial Bushevik Party), but NO MORE will we sit back and LISTEN TO LIES WITHOUT CHALLENGING THEM!

NO MORE will we back down when the Busheviks send a Rent-A-Mob to beat and intimidate Democratic precinct officials

(don't believe it? here...)

http://www.midtod.com/election.phtml

NO MORE!

[x-g.o.p.er]

24. What is AEIO?

And you're right. We must stand up and fight for our country and our ideals. Being silent gets us nothing but more of the same. We must engage in the arena of ideas, and never again disengage

[tom_paine]

25. Sorry, that's a typo...it's AEI

Amerikan Enterprise Institute. One of the Bushevik Propaganda Mills disguised as a "think-tank" where they study how to parse words, lie, and what the best phrasing for innuendos to insert themselves into a person's subconscious.

Oh, they also write position papers usually containing rhetorical trickery and psychomaniuplative fabrications designed to sell pollution as beneficial (or at least non-harmful), trees as the core of the "forest fire problem" and cap-and-trade as a perfectly accepatble method of reducing pollution (which is really funny in the case of mercury...can these paid Propagandists actually believe that localized 10X increases in ultra-toxic substances like mercury be acceptable, so long as the company has "legally" bought the right to do so to a community? myself, I don't think they believe in anything except their Bushevik Masters and getting that weekly paycheck)

Personally I think they should just go for the gusto and work on convincing the Imperial Subjects of Amerika that 1 + 1 = 3.

It would be quite a demonstration of their power.

Again, please feel free to determine for yourself how much of what I am saying is true...

http://www.aei.org/

Also, you have to laugh in the face of doom, too, so...

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=16444

[x-g.o.p.er]

27. Comedy is essential

when dealing with fools. If only the stakes weren't so high, it would be comical, wouldn't it?

[tom_paine]

28. It would be comical also if it was happening to someone else

I used to feel the same mixture of pity and contempt for the citizens of the Old Soviet Union.

I have absolutely no doubt that it is the same feeling more and more of the world is viewing the American Citizenry.

[x-g.o.p.er]

32. I think there is more of...

the latter as opposed to the former, unfortunately.

[tom_paine]

49. Oh, I don't know about that yet

From the articles and anecdotal evidence I've read (which really don't amount to a hill of beans, proof-wise, but here it is anyway) most foreign people who "hate America" still disinguish the good-hearted American People from the Totalitarian Monsters who now have us even more so than the rest of the world, by the throat.

I just keep wondering, how long until even THAT changes. How long (particularly if Bunnypants* finds his way back onto the Imperial Throne) until the rest of the world concludes we LIKE the direction Amerika has been going since the Busheviks performed the Bloodless Coup of 2000.

Once the rest of the world stops differentiating between the American People and the Imperial Busheviks with their boot on the people's necks...then there will be trouble.

And it's only a matter of time if things keep going the way they are...

[leftchick]

48. you mean like my sig line?

:)

[kanrok]

12. Love the post...keep up the good work

n/t

[Gman]

13. Very well said. Very articulate

and very to the point. There are no more than 20-30% of the population that subscribes to the RW dogma of Delay and Ashcroft. These people are a distinct minority but are the ones that are trying to impose their beliefs on us.

There are another 15-20% of people that may vote Republican in November and in the process feel that the alleged "war on terror" trumps concerns about the extremist RW agenda and the rampant unemployment in this country. Everyone else will vote Democrat in November. We need to get at least half of this 15-20% group if we're going to beat Bush. They've got to be made to see that stopping the extremist agenda and creating jobs again is a much bigger priority than fighting terrorism because without the jobs and with the extremism this won't be America anymore and nothing else will really matter.

[Kahuna]

14. Thanks for joining the fight for right, x.g.o.p.er!

:yourock:

[denverbill]

15. I wish I could agree with you that the Republican Party is dead.

Unfortunately, xenophobia and bigotry are big winners when it comes to politics. Yes, the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln is dead, but it died in 1980 when Reagan and the Conservatives began the "state's rights" campaign that finally pulled the racist southern Democrats into their flock.

Hate, fear, and intolerance are big votegetters.

[x-g.o.p.er]

17. I was referring specifically to the old ideals

of what the Republican party used to supposedly stand for--fiscal responsibility, limited government, strong national defense. I would say the Democratic party is better at those than the Republicans are. I am in no way saying the Rep party of today resembles anything it used to. It is alive in the name "Republican" only, IMHO.

[diamond14]

26. my Dad was a republican....from the old days....he served in WWII

bought a house on the G.I. Bill, provided for all of us with his hard work, and believed that everyone should pay their bills, especially the government....he was horrified at the Vietnam War protests, even though my cousin was KILLED in Vietnam...Dad thought that everyone should just pull themselves together and go on....Dad never thought of criticizing the government and accepted THE government as a patriarchal authority....Dad was educated and well-red, and had the republican values you mentioned....

it was the movie Private Ryan that began to change my Dad...made him think about war and see war for what it really was....he never talked about WWII, but he prayed for forgiveness every day, and attended Church every Sunday and tithed 10 % of his income to the Church his whole life...my Dad flew a bomber and dropped bombs on major cities in Germany....and it haunted him...near the end of his life, he became a very anti-war....

IMO, the exact same war politics have been used many times before...but this time...for the first time...the INTERNET is widely used and the truth cannot be so easily hidden....sometimes it seems that bush* is just spewing out the same reagun rhetoric, thinking that the same result will happen...the difference is that more Americans understand war politics today, and the internet is spreading the word, even when the newspapers/TV won't.....

today....WE THE PEOPLE must face the WAR...it is OUR responsibility, WE pay for it, and WE allow this to happen through OUR Congress...

the Nuremburg Trials in Germany and, in American the trial of Lt. Calley for My Lai massacre, pushed us to take responsibility for KILLING in our name, and raised the issues....so now it's all out there in the open much more than before...we cannot hide from it....the stage has been set for us to change the world.....we MUST face up to a war that WE THE PEOPLE are responsible for....we can no longer hide from our horrible actions...I believe in America...and I strongly believe that WE THE PEOPLE can take back America and use OUR great wealth and power to make the world a better place and STOP WARS forever....



"A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy" Disraeli

"To announce that there must be no criticm of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally trasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt

"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." Martin Luthor King, Jr.

[DemExpat]

46. My Dad also was a Repub....bombadier in WWII in Sicily/Italy...

but I am certain that what this administration has made of the word Republican my Dad would have been creeped out about as well as furious.

He died in 1997, and even though he was a rabid Clinton hater, I couldn't help but notice at the end of his life that he might have been having some second thoughts....

DemEx

[denverbill]

36. Yeah, I guess I knew what you meant.

I voted GOP in my first election. I wanted to be a part of the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. At the time (1976) there were a lot of good moderate and even liberal Republicans who actually cared about the average joe. Now, they seem like the party of abject greed. How else can they possibly justify running up $1 trillion in debt to be paid by their own children, so that they can have a tax cut now?

[x-g.o.p.er]

38. I couldn't agree more

But that isn't what REALLY bugs me. What gets me is how so many Republicans think that no matter how bad they think Bush might be, that any alternative is 20 times worse. Short of a complete abdication of the Constitution, declaration of marshal law, and the abolisment of Congress, it couldn't get any worse. The fact that the right doesn't see that, and is so overcome with the retention of power regardless of the long-term cost is what bugs me the most.

[denverbill]

41. It's a little scary at times.

I used to debate the freepers occasionally on their site. There was one guy there that actually favors going to a constitutional monarchy and many who think dictatorship is sometimes necessary and good. If you ever post 'America is a democracy' you can expect 20 replies of "we're not a democracy, we're a republic." Now, while that's technically sort of true (we are a representative democracy, and a federal republic) the implication is that freepers actually don't like the idea of democracy and would be more happy with an oligarchy or aristocracy even if it meant that they would be among the disenfranchised.

I truly believe it's largely a result of the right-wing's successful takeover of radio. Rush and his ilk have so successfully vilified Democrats, liberals, and anything not-Republican that his listeners have developed a visceral hatred of anything from John McCain on leftward. It's like expecting a Christian fundamentalist, who has been taught from birth that Mohammed was a demon-possessed pedophile, to suddenly convert to Islam. It just ain't going to happen, absent some major miracle.

I think there are a few who are finally starting to wake up, but I think there are many more who may wind up voting Republican again in November, just because they can vote for the hated Democrats.

[x-g.o.p.er]

61. Very Scary

But I think more folks are waking up, and I think by the time the election rolls around enough eyes will have been opened to make a difference...if Nader doesn't pull votes away.

[Rich Hunt]

23. Reagan

Reagan was lower-middle-class in origin and was useful in masking the elitist intentions of the GOP. The Republicans had always had a problem in this regard.

I think it may be coming apart - we've had two Bushes in the WH now - surely more and more people are able to see through this nonsense?

I think this administration has overplayed its hand.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eileen_d]

18. Wow - so many great lines in your piece

:yourock:

[Redneck Socialist]

19. You rock X G

Glad to have you on our team.

[wryter2000]

20. Well done!

You just switched to Dem, didn't you? You're a great asset to our party.

:yourock:

[x-g.o.p.er]

21. Yes, just did a few weeks ago n/t

[calimary]

39. I KNEW you were going to find a comfy place here - and

with lots of friends and fans.

If you think you're a soldier, not a writer, you're half-wrong. I can recognize elegant eloquence when I see it. Bravo again!

[x-g.o.p.er]

40. Thanks...

I really appreciate your kind words, calimary.

[rhino47]

22. Kick

:kick: well said

[ComerPerro]

29. I am sorry over the loss of your party

And I really enjoyed reading your post.

There is one really stunning aspect to this, and that is:

Not many Republicans or Conservatives seem to care. Many of them are in fact turning into rabid neoCons themselves.

[x-g.o.p.er]

31. On the contrary...

Many do care. That is why we are becoming Democrats. Others will join, too. It just takes longer for other people to realize what is happening than it does for others.

And that is no longer my party. I am a proud member of the Democratic party.

[stevedeshazer]

33. Even though I've always been a Democrat,

I remember a time not so long ago, but so far away, when Republicans worked together with Democrats for the common good of the people of America.

I could not agree more with what you have said here. Your former party has been highjacked by a bunch of greedheads and religious fanatics.

Only the most sanctimonious and self-righteous people can continue to support the madness that is today's Republican Party.

Thanks for being open-minded in the first place.

[wellstone_democrat]

34. born, raised, believed GOP but will not die that way

This party since Watergate has been headed on the wrong track. My family was Republican since the party's founding but I'm glad that my grandparents didn't live to see this crew:
invasion of personal medical rights, sexual matters, personal information
manipulation of fear for control
pandering to the most ignorant and the most religiously hysterical

My Republican Grandfather would not recognize the party he believed in if he came to life again right now. I'm glad for the first time he is long gone.

[Ganja Ninja]

35. If not dead than living in denial ever since Clinton took office.

Clinton really was everything they espoused in their candidates but they were to partisan to admit it. I think that's the real reason they hate him so much. They were the party that was going to cut spending and control the deficit but they never got around to it despite their rhetoric.
Now Bush has come along and turns out to be the most reckless spender of all time and there is still a large portion of republicans that won't give it up. The republican party has nothing to do with conservatism and has been hijacked by the big corporations. The whole party is comprised of greedy corporations, repressive religious fundies, paranoid gun freaks and hate mongering misfits. As soon as the latter three figure out they are being screwed over by the corporations the party will revert to it's long time roll as the minority party.

[kaitykaity]

37. I'll help stick the spike it's dirty, putrid heart.

With pleasure. :evilgrin:

[wadestock]

42. Yes of course the GOP is dead....good point.....

Reaganomics killed the party. It now stands for the Reaganite ideals of:

a. Military power and the constant confrontation of good vs. evil.
b. Tax breaks for the rich.
c. High military spending.
d. Ignorring of anything to do with national debt. The country can grow its way out of debt.

The above receipe = not only destruction of the GOP but the very country we live in.

Limbaughism combined with the influx of young, brash, shameless, Reaganite team playing would be CEO's have taken over the party. They will stop at nothing to secure further tax breaks for themselves.

The only hope for the GOP was Buchannan or Cain. Cain was the only GOP republican that had the balls to announce that enough was enough with regard to tax breaks for the rich. "I see no reason why those who have especially propered have to enjoy further tax breaks" was roughly what he said when he ran against Bush. Then the party got to him and he went south.

But you brought up an excellent point and it should be specifically used in the next 8 months as a central issue regarding how little the party really represents other than Reaganite ideals. This has the power to awaken the GOP base to consider shutting down Bush....for he truly doesn't represent their ideals.

[the_real_38]

43. um,....

they do control the the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of the government, and a good part of the media, too.

[x-g.o.p.er]

44. Again, I'm referring to what the Republican Party....

USED to be. Yes, "Republicans" control all of those things, but they are not the type of Republican that is representative of most. They are the over the top, neo-conservative, religious fundamentalists that infiltrated the party and took it over in 1992.

When I think of Republicans, I think of Bob Michael, the former Republican minority leader, Bob Dole, before he became obsessed with the presidency and Viagra, and Gerald Ford. I think of Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln.

NOT any of the zealots who are driving this country to ruin and the party to it's death.

On edit: Add John McCain to that list, too.

[Zynx]

45. I am too a former Republican who was turned off by the radical right.

I was one who still held out hope in 2000 that McCain could somewhat turn back the excess right wing tide even though he is not exactly that moderate. Instead, the party moved further right and I have declared myself a Democrat since then, though I did support Democrats half the time in the past.

[x-g.o.p.er]

53. McCain or someone like him

that has the courage to take on the religious right wing is about the only chance of recapturing what was once a party of mainstream ideas and views.

[DemExpat]

47. Much appreciated post! Thanks.

For some reason, this post has made my day...

:kick:

DemEx

[October]

50. One thing

I just wish you'd said "it," instead of "she." I know, I know -- poetic license and all...it's just that there's NO WAY I can think of the republican party as a female entity. Male either, for that matter. Definitely an "it."

<wink>

A beautiful post. Welcome.

[tom_paine]

52. This is a great post that deserves to be kicked!

:kick: :dem: :kick: :dem: :kick:

[uncle ray]

54. ex GOPer, you give me hope, thanks.

its good to see people like you fight the right fight. please stay at it, people like you are the key to making more see the truth to what is happening to us. i wish i could express myself as well as you.

[calimary]

59. Welcome to you, too, uncle ray!

Welcome to DU! We Dems ARE the big tent.

[rumguy]

55. the zealots and extremists have destroyed the GOP

it's about to all come crashing down on them...

[Skittles]

56. the GOP died in 2000

when they stole a presidential election

[anti-NAFTA]

57. There are three types of TRUE Republicans.

1. Paleoconservative like Pat Buchanan (i.e. populist conservatives).

2. Nixonians: moderates on domestic economic policy, foreign policy based on pragmatism and not ideology

3. Fordians: conservatives on domestic policy who don't really give a shit about the Christian right and who are internationalists as far as foreign policy is concerned.

The 1976 Republican primary signified the end of the Republican Party. From then on, the neoconservatives and the Bible thumpers took over. Sure, Nixon might have been against bussing and Buchanan is pretty bigoted; but none of these old school Republicans are/were as disgusting as Bush, who doesn't have one good thing going for him.

[frank frankly]

58. right-o

right on

[Ksec]

60. smack dab spot on

I agree. You write eloquently and truthfully. Good job.

The repukes are done. To think they had the country leaning their way in 2000 with the conservative revolution happening. 3 yrs later and a total power rule theyve blown it. It seems there is a God after all.