I heard an interview with Mike Huckabee today. He is reflecting everything else I have heard over the last week. He said that you can’t be fiscally conservative and socially liberal and still be a republican.

From Huck’s lips to lack-of-gods’ lack-of-ears!

America needs more pitchforks!

OK, I’m not exactly a Republican, but if you know some, I think that’s a great idea for their next campaign. And remind them we need more wars too.

So… I don’t support them any more. Period. But, while I was part of the Republican party, at least for about the first six years (the last two before I got the hell out were an unpleasant experience in cognitive dissonance land) I supported the platform because I had a job that paid ridiculously well for someone that only had a high school diploma and I was happy to buy into the party lie. When you’ve got a stable, large income, and you’re a stupid, selfish kid, it’s not much of a leap to WANT to believe that people who don’t have it as good of you are in that boat because they’re lazy and don’t want to work hard, that welfare programs steal the money of hard-working Americans like ourselves and give it to lazy welfare queens, and that while our health care is bad it’s better than having evil socialized medicine (this was before I was in a committed relationship with my British significant other). I even used to watch Bill O’Reilly (though before he was quite as frothy as he is now) and I even bought the ‘Christians are being picked on’ BS for a limited time until I got a good blast of how those same, picked-on Christians would treat me if they had their their druthers. About the time I started hearing the “America is a Christian Nation” claim and the vicious rhetoric against gay marriage, I was done.

From where I’m standing now, I can’t help but feel ashamed of how I voted in several past elections, and how I willingly welcomed deception and even hatred of those less fortunate than myself into my life. However, I think it’d be a lot more shameful if I hadn’t pulled my head out of my ass.

I’m a college kid going to perhaps the most conservative, religious public university in the US (you might’ve seen us on CNN for our anti-Obama rally the week before elections… I’m only here because it’s free and I’m in the best program for my major!), and I’m a Republican because I align myself more along their policies than Democrats. That’s not to say I wouldn’t vote Democratic (which I did for some local positions), and had I agreed with Obama, then I would’ve voted for him. If I like him more in 4 years than the Republican candidate, then I’ll vote for him.

In other words, politics shouldn’t concern a single party, you should vote for whichever candidate agrees best with your world view!

Hello? They’re going up Heaven’s Chimney? Remember? There are going to be little piles of clothes without smug people in them. Hurry up with that rapture, whydontcha!

HJ

There are a surprising number of conservative republicans who do not believe in god but do not like identifying themselves with the atheist community. For example: anyone in Boston who has listened to conservative talk show host Howie Carr on AM radio… Surprise, he is an Atheist by definition, but distances himself from the stereotypical rabid left atheist to the extent that he doesn’t even use the word to describe himself. I know a lot of atheists like this and I wish the atheist community could disentangle itself from the far left and be a group that we all can identify with without caveats.

The Godbots have hijacked the Republican party and given rise to the hideous monstrosities that are neo-cons. Excuse me if I’m not compelled to join the Democratic Party. My principles haven’t subverted. I’m not going to change my mind on foreign relations, taxes, the environment or welfare reform because GWB has proven to be an idiot and the GOP has been too complacent in its self-righteousness to recognize the trouble they’re in.

If I had another choice that wasn’t full of whack-jobs, I’d take it. We need a serious effort to create a third party. The Libertarians and the Greenies aren’t the answer.

Personally, I think that if the Republicans would adopt the Libertarian platform (without actually saying it, and disguising it somewhat from the evangelicals – it wouldn’t be hard to trick them – they believe in ghosts, talking snakes, etc)…

Given wide-spread Libertarian worship of Ron Paul and Bob Barr, the reverse is already happening.

Without both a strong economy and high taxes, strong military and fiscal responsibility cannot both be maintained at the same time. If the current crisis (primarily due to Bush, the Republicans, and free-market theology) is half as bad as it looks, America will in all likelyhood be forced to abandon the majority of it’s current military power.