Dude, Where’s My Party?

Don’t take the title too literally. I don’t mean that the Republicans are nowhere to be found. Quite the opposite. Fine Republican candidates are running for office and I predict Republicans will show up by the bus load to vote (it’s a figure of speech, we all know that Republicans don’t take the bus). The Democrats are in for a well deserved conservative movement Tsunami. It’s going to be like Christmas. What I mean by ”Dude, Where’s My Party” is, I’m not sure that my party is representing me lately. Now, don’t get me wrong. That’s not to say that I am leaving the party. I shudder to think about being called an Independent. God forbid. But, as of late, it seems my party has been trying to turn a hard right. I’m not so sure that’s the world’s greatest plan.

It’s no secret that I’m not the best true blue, through and through Republican. I’m not a tea partier. I’m not a bible thumper. I’m not that kind of Republican. I’m pro-choice,  pro-separation of church and state and frankly, I don’t care if goats marry each other, let alone homosexuals. That being said, don’t ever mistake me for a liberal. I’m pro-gun rights, pro-death penalty, anti-illegal immigration and, perhaps most importantly, I’m a fiscal conservative to the nth degree. To me, all those stances seem pretty reasonable. Fiscal issues mean a lot more to me than social issues so, of course, I consider myself a devoted Republican. Lately, however, I’ve been feeling like my party is sort of veering off the road and onto the shoulder.

Yesterday Sarah Palin (certified hottie and the nail in the coffin of John McCain’s campaign as far as I’m concerned) was speaking in Reno and, of course, she was pandering. She said, “Some of these politicians — the big wigs within the machine — they are driving me crazy because they are too chicken to come out and support the tea party candidates,” She went on to say, ”Some of you need to man up and spend some political capital to support the tea party candidates instead of waiting to see how everything is going to go.”  I get that Palin is a far right-winger and if it wasn’t for the Tea Party movement, she’d be moose hunting right now. But, do we really need to encourage moving the base of the Republican party farther to the right? Don’t we have enough 700 Club watching lunatics out there yelling about how Obama’s a Muslim and not a U.S. Citizen? I don’t think we need more crazies in our party. I stand by my comments from my earlier post about the Tea Party rapidly becoming the moveon.org of the Republican party. The only difference is the members of the Democrat machine, the ones that really want to win, know good and damn well that the 911 truthers and the moveon.org types are a joke and they are only to be appeased for the purpose of gaining votes.

The Tea Party started out strong enough. I attended the first Tea Party rally that was in Tampa. They were promoting lower taxes and less government spending. Hey, I want lower taxes and less government spending! It was a good rally. It was motivating. But, it all seems to be getting a little out of control. I can’t even watch Glenn Beck’s program anymore and that saddens me. What is happening to the thinking conservatives in the country? Are we dying off or simply being talked over? God knows how the liberal media likes to paint all Republicans as Tea Party crazies. The Tea Party shares my basic beliefs of smaller government and personal freedoms but, I don’t know if I can get behind candidates who scream and yell about the things that should be all but shrugged off as a non-issue like gay marriage.

Here’s a news flash: being a Republican means believing in personal freedom. Personal freedoms mean freedom of religion and I don’t think the government should be involved in religion in any capacity. If I want to bitch and moan demand that my kid be able celebrate Christmas in school, what’s to keep little Rashim’s parents  from demanding that their kid be able to celebrate Ramadan? Most far right Republicans would be less than cool with that idea. So, what do you propose? Make schools teach only Christianity? There’s a word for that. Discriminatory. It’s a simple concept, really, and yet it seems to elude my new favorite candidate, Christine O’Donnell. Christine O’Donnell does not ever fail to disappoint me. This week O’Donnell said “Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?” Of course, the Constitution does not literally say “separation of church and state” but, to think that the separation of church and state is not what is implied is, well, immature logic, at best.

Yes, I have always been tolerant of the far right in the party. I have attended Republican events that open with a ”in Jesus’ name we pray” sort of prayer and yes I’ve rolled my eyes but, I’ve had no real problem overlooking that kind of religious force feeding. Lately, however, it seems that I can’t overlook the crazy factor. It seems that the Tea Partiers are forcing us to be more about social issues and less about fiscal issues. That is the exact opposite of what this blogger thinks should be happening. The Democrats are the party of,  “of course we will fund this social program! Where’s the check book?” and that is ineffective governing. I don’t want to see us as a party become so focused on the social issues that we let fiscal issues take a back seat. America is a business. You can’t run a business by worrying about what’s going on in your employees bedrooms. Worry about their work product. Worry about the bills. This is Republican Party 101, people!

Some will tell you that middle of the road Republicans (i.e. McCain, Giuliani) lose elections. Maybe they are right.  And, make no mistake, I’m sure that I will be voting for whatever crack-pot, far-right, bible thumper that may end up on the ballot if that is the Republican nominee, but I won’t have to like it and I won’t stop preaching common sense and economics first to the religious right.

In Reagan’s name I close. Annnnnd scene.

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