  Ok. I'm caving in. When I started this blog, I really didn't want it to become political. I should have known myself better. I apologize to all of you for my rantings and ravings...I promise they won't be frequent. My polite Southern upbringing taught me to discuss politics and religion with caution...because inevitably you will offend. I hope what I'm about to write doesn't offend anyone. They're just my opinions, and since I can be pretty stupid about trivial issues, I hardly think I have a monopoly on cosmic Truth. But let me tell you about myself. As early as 1990, as a middle schooler, I began listening and adoring Rush Limbaugh. If you're a conservative Republican, I've walked in your shoes. I've made your arguments. I've marched on state capitols for your causes, I've written letters to newspapers, and I've designed "principled" t-shirts touting your slogans.
In 1997, I served as the Vice President of the College Republicans of Arkansas. I've sat in the living room of the governor's mansion in Arkansas with current GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee. I've told my share of Clinton jokes. I am (still, oddly) a huge fan of Ronald Reagan. But over the past 4-5 years, I've been slowly rethinking (refining? ) my views. See, if you're as hard-core and as young as I was, watching history and seeing facts (not blind ideology) can be quite a bummer.
It's easy to announce to your fellow high school classmates in 1993 that Clinton's tax hike will crush the economy and ruin the middle class...until you see that the balanced budget it created lowered interest rates and expanded the financial markets that provided the biggest economic expansion in history. It's easy to trash welfare and say it's not the government's responsibility to help the poor, but when you hear Republican politicians tell you racist and sexist jokes over dinner and hear good Christian people say it's not the federal gov't's responsibility...or state gov't's...or local gov't's...or the Church's...and then don't do anything themselves...you gotta wonder if they really care that much at all.
It's easy to vote Republican because you believe in protecting the rights of the unborn...but then when the Republican party you help elect controls the White House, both houses of Congress, a majority on the Supreme Court, a majority of governorships...and doesn't ONCE attempt to rollback Roe V. Wade, can you take them seriously any longer?
It's in their platform, and has been since 1984. Why aren't they doing anything? If you vote Republican because you want to end abortion, has it worked? Will you still vote for them because of this issue? Why? Why has the abortion rate in this country risen in the past 4 years while it declined during the Clinton presidency? Did your pro-life vote work? Will your future "pro-life" vote work? It's easy to argue that insuring those without health insurance would be too expensive and disastrous for health care in our country, but then when you turn 21 and you're booted off your parents insurance plan, you realize there are some pretty significant holes in our country's health care system. I look back at my fully-insured, smug, carefree 15-year-old self arguing there was nothing flawed with our current system - and I laugh because I can't cry.
It's easy to argue against an assault-weapons ban because you're a staunch defender of the 2nd amendment, but then when a democrat president bans them and crime drops in this country...and the nation's liberty doesn't shrivel because of it...maybe those folks at the NRA and GOP look a little nutty. It's easy to be a Republican and argue that democrats want to tax-and-spend, but when you see a Democrat balance the federal budget - a feat not accomplished by a Republican president since Eisenhower - it makes you rethink things. And when a president with a huge budget surplus and a robust economy leaves the country to a GOP president who creates a huge deficit and cripples the economy, it makes you feel betrayed for all those years you worked your heart out for a common-sense government. It's easy to be a flag-waving, anthem-singing, patriotic Republican...until you realize that all the things you cherish so deeply in your country...free time with family (granted by those pesky unions who wanted a 40-hour work week), equality (voting rights for all), an expansive middle class, freedom to worship your God, a beautiful environment, civil rights, economic protection for the elderly, public education...ALL these things were advocated by liberals and opposed by conservatives.
All of them. If you're a hard-core Republican and you love your country (which most of you do), have you ever thought about what your country would look like if your party had unbridled power for our 228 years of history?
How can you be so myopic? It's easy to argue that a president of the opposing party should be impeached for telling a lie to the American people regarding his sexual habits...but tell me...how hard is it to look the other way when the president of YOUR party lies to the American people and gets us in a war that kills over 900 soldiers and countless innocent Iraqi citizens? Isn't a lie a lie? That's what I learned in church. Look, folks...I'm not a democrat. Far from it. I'm not telling you to go vote for Kerry (even if I do think he made a fairly compelling speech last night).
I'm just saying this...as I get older, I find myself becoming less political. I read "Mere Discipleship" by Lee Camp over 6 months ago, and I can honestly say it really changed my way of thinking. I may not even vote in this election (I live in California...will my vote matter? ) There are plenty...plenty...of things in the democratic party I don't like, either. I too thought Clinton was a creep for what he did. But he can't come back to elected office; further, John Kerry ain't Bill Clinton.
My conscience won't let me rest until I fully confront what I believe is the Republican party's desire to woo (manipulate? ) Christian people with empty promises. Folks, I've walked in those shoes. I've seen the manipulation. I've held the coats while the metaphorical Stephens were stoned. I've even cast a few stones myself. And I've moved on.
ps.
What can I say? Click urlLink here . Let them eat cake! 
