TODAY I am declaring that I am not longer a Republican and will be registering as a Democrat very shortly. I refuse to be a member of a Party where the RNC Chairman declares the Party is a Religion. Have never been a social conservative and unlike the RNC Chairman I am a tolerant person except for bigots and racists who I detest with a passion.
Let me give you some of my background as a Republican which will explain why it has been hard to make the change and leave everything I have known behind:
You can see that I was a died in the wool Republican from my days as a teenager. My Uncle was the Secretary to the Ohio Republican Party and my parents and grandparents hard core Republicans. That's how I got to see Barry Goldwater and had to skip school for the day as the Principal wouldn't allow us to go see him and miss school even with our parent's permission. He said we would take zero's but he was overruled by the Superintendent who just happened to be our next door neighbor.
After taking a break from politics while working for the Air Force as civil service, I started getting involved again on our transfer to Norton AFB, CA. Did a lot of volunteer work at the schools for my three kids so politics even then took a backseat until they were older when I became very active once again.
My break-up with the Republican Party started with the shift to hard right which I thought originally was just in Oklahoma but I was dead wrong as it is across the Country. By the time the 2012 campaign came along I was really disgusted with what I was hearing in debates. I was a Rudy supporter in 2008 and took a lot of grief for that since he was Pro-Choice and for Gay Rights. When the Romney camp systematically got rid of candidate after candidate, I had no one to support because there was not enough money in the world to make me support Mitt Romney. I am not a Libertarian so the minute I found out that Gary Johnson, their potential candidate, was a big support of Ayn Rand that did me in with him. I liked him as Governor of New Mexico but I don't support Ayn Rand supporters.
Talked to good friends, talked to my brother, and then decided that I would join Republicans for Obama which meant I was still hoping that after Romney lost big that the Republican Party would go back to being normal. I was WRONG as it went further hard right. After being spotlighted on R's for Obama, I started getting some nasty email but it didn't faze me as I have been used to 'nasty' out of the "my way or no way crowd." I have had my foot out the door since then.
I have no regrets for my action to make the move to the Democrat Party. I have never been a social conservative because I always said social issues belong in my home and community not as Federal issues. I don't even believe that abortion or gay marriage would be a political issue so you can see where I no longer fit in the Republican Party. As late as 1994, the Contract with America contained no social issues. Now that is all changed with today's Republican Party where social issues are put over economic issues. I cannot be a member of the Republican Party of religion who puts Christian religious beliefs as their core principles. When Priebus said the 'New Testament' that left out a whole group of people.
Would imagine that I am not the only common sense Republicans who is disgusted at what has happened to our Party if the reaction I got on my comments on my phone call to the RNC was an indication. Priebus is going to have the privilege of reigning over a Republican Party that is about to become a shadow of its former self. Already I meet a number of people on line who are former Republicans and within a few days you can add me to that list.
The following article is the straw that broke the camel's back in my case as I was staying a Republican to vote against my conscientious objector State Rep in the primary and then switch. There is no way I can last that long in a Party where I don't share their core principles of religion as the basis for their Party.
Had to grit my teeth to include the You Tube of Priebus because it puts his face on my website which irritates me to no end. The Koch puppet is destroying the Republican Party as a viable Party. I am livid that the National Committee and the State GOP Chairs allowed this to happen but then the religious right, social conservatives have taken over a lot of State GOP as we are seeing play out in the State Legislatures. This interview by Priebus sent me through the roof and was told by a close friend to wait until today to read the article if I want to sleep - he was right. I have been steamed since I watched the video which was painful since I have NEVER liked the Koch Brothers puppet Priebus from Wisconsin from Day One.
Our party believes that life begins at conception. I think those are foundational issues that aren’t going anywhere but what I have said, which I don’t think should be controversy at all and I would think that Christians and pastors and everyone in between should agree that our principles have to be draped in the concepts of grace, love and respect and that’s not code language. That’s the New Testament so I don’t think there should be any problem with that thinking in our party. RNC Chairman Priebus, 23 Jul 2012Just got off the phone with the RNC giving them my more than two cents as I had a problem with what he said. Kept getting passed from person to person to finally getting a voice mail that they will call me back - probably in the year 2020 after what I had to say. Just a side note, the RNC has a petition to sign on their website to to Obama on jobs - guess Priebus was too caught up in the GOP is a religion to know the House GOP is the one that won't consider a jobs bill. Glad I am not as dumb as they think we are.
Let me give you some of my background as a Republican which will explain why it has been hard to make the change and leave everything I have known behind:
- Walked doors as a teenager for Barry Goldwater
- Charter Member of the Ohio Teenage Republican Club
- Member of the Young Republicans
- Vice Chairman of County GOP
- President of the Oldest Women's Club in Oklahoma
- Precinct Chair
- Consultant/Analyst/Researcher/Full-time Volunteer to various campaigns at National, State, and local level
- Republican Blogger (Morphed into Progressive Blogger with this new site)
You can see that I was a died in the wool Republican from my days as a teenager. My Uncle was the Secretary to the Ohio Republican Party and my parents and grandparents hard core Republicans. That's how I got to see Barry Goldwater and had to skip school for the day as the Principal wouldn't allow us to go see him and miss school even with our parent's permission. He said we would take zero's but he was overruled by the Superintendent who just happened to be our next door neighbor.
After taking a break from politics while working for the Air Force as civil service, I started getting involved again on our transfer to Norton AFB, CA. Did a lot of volunteer work at the schools for my three kids so politics even then took a backseat until they were older when I became very active once again.
My break-up with the Republican Party started with the shift to hard right which I thought originally was just in Oklahoma but I was dead wrong as it is across the Country. By the time the 2012 campaign came along I was really disgusted with what I was hearing in debates. I was a Rudy supporter in 2008 and took a lot of grief for that since he was Pro-Choice and for Gay Rights. When the Romney camp systematically got rid of candidate after candidate, I had no one to support because there was not enough money in the world to make me support Mitt Romney. I am not a Libertarian so the minute I found out that Gary Johnson, their potential candidate, was a big support of Ayn Rand that did me in with him. I liked him as Governor of New Mexico but I don't support Ayn Rand supporters.
Talked to good friends, talked to my brother, and then decided that I would join Republicans for Obama which meant I was still hoping that after Romney lost big that the Republican Party would go back to being normal. I was WRONG as it went further hard right. After being spotlighted on R's for Obama, I started getting some nasty email but it didn't faze me as I have been used to 'nasty' out of the "my way or no way crowd." I have had my foot out the door since then.
I have no regrets for my action to make the move to the Democrat Party. I have never been a social conservative because I always said social issues belong in my home and community not as Federal issues. I don't even believe that abortion or gay marriage would be a political issue so you can see where I no longer fit in the Republican Party. As late as 1994, the Contract with America contained no social issues. Now that is all changed with today's Republican Party where social issues are put over economic issues. I cannot be a member of the Republican Party of religion who puts Christian religious beliefs as their core principles. When Priebus said the 'New Testament' that left out a whole group of people.
Would imagine that I am not the only common sense Republicans who is disgusted at what has happened to our Party if the reaction I got on my comments on my phone call to the RNC was an indication. Priebus is going to have the privilege of reigning over a Republican Party that is about to become a shadow of its former self. Already I meet a number of people on line who are former Republicans and within a few days you can add me to that list.
The following article is the straw that broke the camel's back in my case as I was staying a Republican to vote against my conscientious objector State Rep in the primary and then switch. There is no way I can last that long in a Party where I don't share their core principles of religion as the basis for their Party.
Had to grit my teeth to include the You Tube of Priebus because it puts his face on my website which irritates me to no end. The Koch puppet is destroying the Republican Party as a viable Party. I am livid that the National Committee and the State GOP Chairs allowed this to happen but then the religious right, social conservatives have taken over a lot of State GOP as we are seeing play out in the State Legislatures. This interview by Priebus sent me through the roof and was told by a close friend to wait until today to read the article if I want to sleep - he was right. I have been steamed since I watched the video which was painful since I have NEVER liked the Koch Brothers puppet Priebus from Wisconsin from Day One.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Says the Republican Party is a Religion (Excerpt)
By: Hrafnkell HaraldssonJul. 23rd, 2013
Talking to The Brody File on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) yesterday, Reince Priebus assured conservative Christians of every stripe that the GOP stands for God’s Own Party.
After the catastrophic failure of God’s brand in 2012, College Republicans came up with a scheme to get more votes without budging an inch on socially divisive culture war issues. As Salon put it, “Seem Tolerant.”
Priebus reassured his audience, however, that the GOP is “a party that embraces marriage,” and that he “is a chairman that understands that there’s only one sovereign God and that we ultimately aren’t dependent on what happens in politics, that what ultimately matters in our lives is that we’re salt and light in the world and that we’re honoring God in the things that we do every day.”
There you have it. From the RNC chairman’s mouth. Priebus doesn’t want to seem tolerant. He doesn’t even like the word “tolerant.”
Watch courtesy of Right Wing Watch:
Brody: I want to talk to you about this way forward for the GOP. When you use that word “intolerant” in what the RNC put out, Evangelicals start to grab the Excedrin bottles when they hear “tolerance” because they think “oh no the GOP is changing and the whole gay marriage situation.” Why don’t you address this and maybe put evangelicals at ease, or can you put them at ease at all here?
Priebus: Well, one hundred percent. I don’t know if I’ve used the word “tolerance.” I don’t really care fo for that word myself. I don’t have a problem with it. I just think it has another meaning politically that can go the other direction. I happen to believe that our principles are sound. I do beleive, and I still will tell you that our party believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. Our party believes that life begins at conception. I think those are foundational issues that aren’t going anywhere but what I have said, which I don’t think should be controversial at all and I would think Christians and pastors and everyone in between should agree that our principles have to be draped in the concepts of grace, love and respect and that’s not code language, that’s the New Testament, so I don’t think there should be any problem with that thinking in our party. That’s all I’ve said. It’s not what you say, I think, it’s sometimes like our moms used to tell us, it’s how you say it; and I think that’s really the issue and quite frankly I think some of that has been overblown. I’m happy to address it but clearly myself and our party haven’t changed on those principles.
Priebus: I happen to believe that our principles are sound. I do believe, and I still will tell you that our party believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. Our party believes that life begins at conception. I think those are foundational issues that aren’t going anywhere but what I have said, which I don’t think should be controversy at all and I would think that Christians and pastors and everyone in between should agree that our principles have to be draped in the concepts of grace, love and respect and that’s not code language. That’s the New Testament so I don’t think there should be any problem with that thinking in our party.
If you’re looking at the evidence, what you will see is a party that embraces life, a party that embraces marriage and a chairman that understands that there’s only one sovereign God and that we ultimately aren’t dependent on what happens in politics. What ultimately matters in our lives is that we’re salt and light in the world and that we’re honoring God in the things that we do every day. I get that. I think our party gets that and there’s never been a movement away from that.More from the article at Politicususa.com
What is sad for Americans is that the Republican Party was not always the party of intolerance and hate. Social issues were not always foundational principles for the GOP. Our differences with the GOP were truly political rather than religious and the two had not yet become conflated in conservative imaginations.
But now, what Priebus is telling us, is that the GOP is the party only of white conservative Christians, a “political” party whose only interest is in “honoring God” according to some narrowly defined, cherry-picked, and misrepresented (sometimes invented) biblical mandates.
When you read something like this from a Progressive website, you realize how hard right the GOP has gone because they realize it used to be political differences where the two sides would fight in Congress and go have dinner together because they were friends. Today's Republicans in Congress especially the House are some the most mean spirited, nasty people I have ever seen who believe 'compromise' is a dirty word. They don't care if they lose as long as they stand on principle. You cannot deal with people like that as Democrats are finding out.
The last paragraph of the article at Politicususa.com describes the Republican Party of today:
When Americans vote, therefore, they must recognize that the election is not between two political parties, but between one political party and a religion, a religion which, if it had its way, would ultimately do away with the political party in order that America become some dystopian, corporate-sponsored theocracy.The Republican Party of intolerance that puts the Christian religion as its core principles goes against the Constitution which says quite plainly "Freedom of Religion" which means we do not have a state sponsored religion which is exactly what today's Republican Party wants after what Priebus had to say yesterday.
It is important that voters understand that today's Republican Party officials are all about making this Country a corporate-sponsored, Christian theocracy bought and paid for by the Koch Bros and other wealthy donors. I have heard it too often not to believe it is true.
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