Honestly, the state of the GOP really saddens me. It was once such a great party, and was sadly hijacked by extremists, religious loons and far right totalitarians. I hope it can boot ourt the neo-cons & the Religous Right OR at the very least stop being so exclusive--The reason why the Democratic party is rising is because it doesn't have such a narrow ideological window. If you're not a staunch pro-life activist or totally against gay rights; or if you're not a small gov't fiscal conservative, you're lambasted as a ''RINO. Even someone as moderate conservative as John McCain is called a ''RINO'' nowadays--There's no place for you in the GOP if you don't agree 100% with Rush, Hannity or Beck.

I call it the ''New GOP''--The Post Reagan GOP that really blossomed under Bush, Jr.--The New GOP, which is a ''Small Tent'', wth mainly the ideological philosophy of "Neo-Conservatism" as it's core ideology, as opposed to when the GOP was more of a "Big Tent"--with your true Conservatives (Goldwater, Robert Taft) taking up the right wing, your moderates (Gerald Ford, Eisenhower), your Rockefeller Republicans  aka Liberal Republicans (Nixon, Rockefeller) taking up the left, and the small group of young Turk neo-cons (Buchannan, Rumsfield, Cheney)--Basically the GOP of the 40s to the late 70s.

it seems to me that, with it's strict ideological limits, it's insistance on ruling people's personal lives (by legalislating morality as they see it), it's acceptance of religious zealots as a leading, influencial core base, and with the paranoid, bitter, sometimes violent extremism of it's members, the New GOP is becoming more and more like a cult rather than a politcal party.

Pretty much...  Although the Democratic Party seems especially divided on the issue of healthcare.

As long as they call Ronald Reagan their patron saint, there's no hope for the GOP.

I don't think that the "new GOP" has any different view of morality than the "old GOP".

The GOP (as a general rule) has always been anti-abortion, anti-gay-marriage etc.

As a repub, I would prefer that the Evangelical types go back to their churches and pray all day.  Quite frankly every Evangelical that I personally know is annoying as hell, and if I hear them drone on one more time about "how much they have been blessed" 3x a day, I am gonna puke.  And I'm not talking that creamy-back-of-the-school-bus style puke, I mean that chunky industrial-waste type.  8-P  8-P

I don't think that the "new GOP" has any different view of morality than the "old GOP".

The GOP (as a general rule) has always been anti-abortion, anti-gay-marriage etc.

As a repub, I would prefer that the Evangelical types go back to their churches and pray all day.  Quite frankly every Evangelical that I personally know is annoying as hell, and if I hear them drone on one more time about "how much they have been blessed" 3x a day, I am gonna puke.  And I'm not talking that creamy-back-of-the-school-bus style puke, I mean that chunky industrial-waste type.   8-P  8-P


I was gonna reply on-topic, but your "creamy-back-of-the-school-bus style puke" image brought back some unpleasant schoolboy memories and I'm feeling kinda grossed out at the moment!
8-P

Honestly, the state of the GOP really saddens me. It was once such a great party, and was sadly hijacked by extremists, religious loons and far right totalitarians. I hope it can boot ourt the neo-cons & the Religous Right OR at the very least stop being so exclusive--The reason why the Democratic party is rising is because it doesn't have such a narrow ideological window. If you're not a staunch pro-life activist or totally against gay rights; or if you're not a small gov't fiscal conservative, you're lambasted as a ''RINO. Even someone as moderate conservative as John McCain is called a ''RINO'' nowadays--There's no place for you in the GOP if you don't agree 100% with Rush, Hannity or Beck.


Of course, there are a huge number of people (like myself) that simply can't stomach the Democrat ideology either.

By reading this it is obvious you are not a Conservative or Republican, because it totally slants the views of the way most of us think.  However, it seems to be the that people want to believe that we think.

First of all, most "Republicans" have nothing against gays, blacks, hispanics, or any other group.  As a general rule, we do not accept "special protection" because it smacks to much like "special favors".  I have no problem with homosexuals, unisexuals, trisexuals, polysexuals, omnisexuals, metrosexuals, heterosexuals, homosexuals, chromosexuals, or any other such division.  I simply do not see the need to give people "special protection" because of it.  In fact, I myself don't give a damn, and am tired of somebody comming out in public telling the wold they are proud to be gay.

Hey, I am proud to be heterosexual.  But I don't scream it out to the world.  By and large most of us probably feel the same way, and object to other people throwing their own choices in our face.  And to "The Left", when we object to some kind of special protection, we are blasted as being "homophobes".

The same goes with abortion.  I have no problem with it for health purposes.  Or after a crime has occured.  My issue comes when it is routinely used as a means of birth control.  This to me all boils down to personal responsibility.

And most do not care much about the specifics of Religion either.  I do not care if a person is Christian, Catholic, Baptist, Islamic, Jewish, Buddist, Shintoist, Athiest, or an Agnost.  All I ever ask is that they do not force me to follow their beliefs, nor do they interfere with my beliefs.  I have no problem if they want a menorah in front of a public building, nor am I offended by the thought of displaying a crescent moon during the month of Ramadan or displaying the 10 Commandments or a statue of the Buddah.  Most of us have no confusion between the difference of "a display in respect of a religion" and the "establishment of religion".

I always find it hilarious that people scream that Conservatives and Republicans as being "narrow minded" and "bigoted".  Then I read things by "Liberals" and "Democrats" that are so bigoted it is hard not to take offense at them.  They claim they are "neutral", but the choices of words are anything but.

In fact, I often times think that most Democrats live in their own little world, like Pauline Kael.

Of course, there are a huge number of people (like myself) that simply can't stomach the Democrat ideology either.

By reading this it is obvious you are not a Conservative or Republican, because it totally slants the views of the way most of us think.  However, it seems to be the that people want to believe that we think.

First of all, most "Republicans" have nothing against gays, blacks, hispanics, or any other group.  As a general rule, we do not accept "special protection" because it smacks to much like "special favors".  I have no problem with homosexuals, unisexuals, trisexuals, polysexuals, omnisexuals, metrosexuals, heterosexuals, homosexuals, chromosexuals, or any other such division.  I simply do not see the need to give people "special protection" because of it.  In fact, I myself don't give a damn, and am tired of somebody comming out in public telling the wold they are proud to be gay.

Hey, I am proud to be heterosexual.  But I don't scream it out to the world.  By and large most of us probably feel the same way, and object to other people throwing their own choices in our face.  And to "The Left", when we object to some kind of special protection, we are blasted as being "homophobes".

The same goes with abortion.  I have no problem with it for health purposes.  Or after a crime has occured.  My issue comes when it is routinely used as a means of birth control.  This to me all boils down to personal responsibility.

And most do not care much about the specifics of Religion either.  I do not care if a person is Christian, Catholic, Baptist, Islamic, Jewish, Buddist, Shintoist, Athiest, or an Agnost.  All I ever ask is that they do not force me to follow their beliefs, nor do they interfere with my beliefs.  I have no problem if they want a menorah in front of a public building, nor am I offended by the thought of displaying a crescent moon during the month of Ramadan or displaying the 10 Commandments or a statue of the Buddah.  Most of us have no confusion between the difference of "a display in respect of a religion" and the "establishment of religion".

I always find it hilarious that people scream that Conservatives and Republicans as being "narrow minded" and "bigoted".  Then I read things by "Liberals" and "Democrats" that are so bigoted it is hard not to take offense at them.  They claim they are "neutral", but the choices of words are anything but.

In fact, I often times think that most Democrats live in their own little world, like Pauline Kael.


Your answer is fraught with "I".  What you, and many like you, would like the party to be like is not the face that the National Republican Party puts forward. The Dems do not have a group comparable to the Log Cabin Republicans because it isn't necessary.  There aren't a bevy of liberal talk show hosts with the status of the Rushs' or Michael Savage, making fun of people the way Rush made fun of Michael L. Fox, or demonizing immigrants.  There are are problems with people on both sides of the spectrum, but the Republicans seem to be more willing to close ranks around the more coarser elements, whereas the Dems get all whingy and apologize for their own shadows which is just as bad.

Hey, I am proud to be heterosexual.  But I don't scream it out to the world. 

What?  You mean that you do not feel the need to go out in the street wearing cleverly-tied balloons, feather boas, and buttless chaps so that you can proclaim your pride in your heterosexuality? ???

Your answer is fraught with "I".  What you, and many like you, would like the party to be like is not the face that the National Republican Party puts forward. The Dems do not have a group comparable to the Log Cabin Republicans because it isn't necessary.  There aren't a bevy of liberal talk show hosts with the status of the Rushs' or Michael Savage, making fun of people the way Rush made fun of Michael L. Fox, or demonizing immigrants.  There are are problems with people on both sides of the spectrum, but the Republicans seem to be more willing to close ranks around the more coarser elements, whereas the Dems get all whingy and apologize for their own shadows which is just as bad.


Yes, and just about every "Republican" I know feels pretty much the same way.

And many of us feel set upon by the "Evil Democrats".  Things like abrtion on demand, letting criminals wander the streets, allow dugs to become legal, open borders to anybody able to walk across, castrating our military and police forces, wanting to turn away as allies are attacked, preach "green living" as they drive their SUVs and fly to vacations in charter aircraft, ban anything that even looks remotely like a gun, support and even encourage euthenasia.  I can go on and on.

But as most of you who know me in here know, I almost never say things like that.  Why?  Well, because I know for one that most Democrats do not believe all of those things, or they believe in them to a lesser degree or for different reasons.  I never try to say "your side is jacked up, and this is why".  Granted, I may feel that way, but I would never say it.

For some reason, a lot of people seem to have no problem demonizing what they see as their political rivals.  And I have never liked that, from either side.  And for every case like Limbaugh making fun of Mr. Fox, I can point out many cases of people celebrating when somebody like President Reagan or Charlton Heston came down with a terminal disease, or died.

So be careful, all to often what I see is classic cases of the pot calling the kettle black.  Except in this case, all to often it is a pot that thinks it is a stainless steel pot, but is really just as nasty looking if not more so then the kettle.

And as a general rule, we do not call people ugly names simply because we dissagree with them.  Or try to ostracize them.  I remember a "discussion" here a while back, when people tried to tell me over and over that it was perfectly fine to call a black person an "Oreo", "Uncle Tom", or "Zebra".  And many simply did not understand why I would find that offensive.  These same people seem to believe that there is no such thing as a Conservative black person, or a Conservative gay person.

I think mostly it threatens some, the fact that others who they think are "just like them" actually have different beliefs.

^Slow down here, 'shroom! I believe that the Republican Party is doormant after the Bush Administration (It has been since 2006). The GOP is in a 'rebuilding' stage. Why do you think Sarah Palin won't run for Govenor after next year? Why do you think we're not hearing about Mitt Romney or anyone like that? Why do you think Glen Beck is competing with Rush Limbaugh? Because that was similar to what the Democrats did when Bush was around. Sure, there was another time when the Democrats were dominant...and that was The Depression and WWII, and that was because of the Harding/Cooledige/Hoover Administration which was a very lame-duck administration.

Now I must slow down and take a breather.