Most of my best friends are Republicans — old time Republicans…Birk Birkheimer, Ralph Williams…especially Ralph Williams — men who recall Eisenhower with pride. These are men (and women, because there are women, too, though I have named but the two men whom everyone…around here, anyway, should know) …men and women who have true honor, high morals, unimpeachable ethics. These are my kind of people, the kind of people who live by a creed: “Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way!” These are people who will defend you and your right to speak, to live, to make a living, to be, no matter your political persuation so long as you, likewise, maintain a demeanor of high moral and ethical character. They don’t care if you’re gay, lesbian, believe in choice, practice something other than Christianity…you name it. They don’t want to know about your sex life, nor your religion or political persuasion. What they do care about is that you don’t impede life, liberty, and the pursuit of another man’s (or woman’s) right to be as guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Most of these people are war veterans, whether they are women who worked for the war effort in factories and hospitals or men were on the front lines. We’re talking WWII veterans and Korean “Conflict” veterans, we’re talking men and women who were involved in the Cold War and who remember the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Conflict like it was yesterday.
Then there are my friends who are more contemporary — Vietnam War era. These men and women are liberals — pro-choice, pro-peace, pro-environmental protection…and anti-gun control, pro-capital punishment…like me.
You know what Republican Ralph Williams said today to Liberal Patrick Tormey (my very best friend)? He wondered how people were going to make it now that rents are so high, that the banks are messed up, that the economy is screwed to Hell and gone…by his own party. He shook his head and mentioned the coming election. “You know?” he said. “I don’t even think I’m going to vote.” Now that is a disenfranchised Republican. (There are quite a few around here in Idaho.)
Well, I’ll vote, because, despite my cynicism about ANY politician, I’m going to “believe” just one more time…in Obama and Biden, especially Biden. I HOPE that Obama isn’t just blowing smoke, and that what he says he stands for is actual.
I’m a die-hard Kucinich supporter. I was a die-hard Ross Perot (Remember him?) supporter. I keep asking myself, though. Where’s my party? It certainly isn’t the wimpy Democrats who shift their principles with the wind (save Kucinich, of course), nor with those extreme Democrats who think that every chick who spreads her legs for every Jack Penis should have an income while she is paid to secure an education at taxpayer (my) expense, which are the same Democrats who think that I ought to care about White Trash Sally-Annie’s brat, and who, if I don’t believe in their perspective implicitly, should have my right to think for myself revoked. Democrats don’t like thinking individuals, especially ones who disagree with their soft party lines. Then there’s the same exact problem with Fundy Republicans who think that I should have my citizenship and even my right to live revoked if I don’t believe their way, from religion and Jesus Christ to rape-the-land and kill all the gays and lesbians.
Who am I? I’m an independent, technically. Who am I? I’m a Constitutionalist in the old fashioned sense of the word — a flag waver, yes, and a Thomas Jefferson fan, a believer in the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights…applied equally to everyone, not just the “good ol’ boys and gals.”
Where’s MY party? I want a party — one that upholds my right to bear arms; one that upholds my right to determine what’s best for me, my body, my mind and spirit; one that allows for pro-choice in everything, from relationships to religion to determining whether or not I want an abortion; one that upholds my right to free speech, regardless that somebody else thinks it’s hate speech or politically incorrect, regardless that it doesn’t uphold some religious tenet someone else holds sacrosanct. Maybe for me, sacrosanct is the exact opposite, ever figure? Where’s my party? It ain’t the wimpy Democrats, that’s for sure, but, likewise, it ain’t the Republicans who aren’t Republicans at all, but rather advocates of economic and political tyranny, with them installed as dictators.
Where’s my party?