As I've noted before, once upon a time I was an active Republican in the days before the Christianist take over of the party. Most of my former GOP "friends" dropped me like a hot potato when I came out and I heard frequent reports of how some had dragged my name through the mud because of my "lifestyle choice." Despite this back stabbing and general nastiness, I've remained in touch with some I knew from that time period - generally those who were moderates, some of whom were criticized by the far right elements for not being extreme enough to satisfy the Pat Robertson crowd.
Recently, I had an e-mail encounter with one such moderate (or at least former moderate) which was fairly discouraging because this individual sounded as if their sole source of information was Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. About the only point we agreed on was that the country is in a mess. Missing from my friend's statements was any willingness to accept GOP culpability for any part of the problems facing the country. You know, things like the 44%+ share of the deficit incurred under Chimperator Bush's 8 years of misrule. Also missing was any ability to see another perspective - especially from an LGBT perspective. Indeed, at times I was described as a single issue voter by this individual. Naturally, I disagreed and made a further comment that if the country continued its rightward lurch to insanity, the boyfriend and I might even consider leaving the USA.
This latter remark set off a defense of the USA as the best country in the world and how could I think such a thing. My response was as follows:
It's a sad reality, but the USA is no longer the a land of freedom of religion or equality under the law for all its citizens. No country is perfect, but for LGBT Americans more and more foreign countries offer a better life. I have more legal rights in all of these countries than I have in the USA/Virginia:
Marriage rights:
Argentina
Belgium
Canada
Iceland
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Civil unions or domestic partnerships:
Andorra
Austria
Brazil
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Finland
France
- New Caledonia
- Wallis and Futuna
Germany
Greenland
Hungary
Ireland
Isle of Man
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Slovenia
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Uruguay
I'm not saying any one of them is perfect, but in terms of recognizing me as a full citizen with a valid relationship (and non-discrimination protections in many cases) they offer more than the USA. Republicans and supposed conservatives have no idea - not that most of them even care - of the damage that they do to the lives of LGBT individuals. Gay teens continue to kill themselves in disproportionate numbers yet Bachmann and others in the GOP continue the message of hate. No, I'm not sorry that I posted the remark.
Not surprisingly, that ended the interchange and I've received no reply. Sometimes facing the truth is not easy, but until those in the GOP will take a good look at themselves in the mirror, things are not going to get better. I've never been a "America Right of Wrong" citizen. I believe that sometimes the greatest patriots are those who will speak the truth and criticize what's wrong.
2 comments:
I'll be honest Michael, I don't read much of your political stuff because you and I see eye to eye on a few things and we're worlds apart on other things.
I'm not going to change your mind with a comment any more than you're going to change mine with a political blog post.
What I will tell you is I am a moderate Republican which is not an easy thing to be in the Republican party. That's one of the things we agree on even though you're a Democrat. I'm also a Texan, so that means its even harder to be a moderate, because many Texans see moderate Republicans as RINOs (Republican in Name Only).
I'm much older than you. Old enough to remember a time when government worked. Old enough to remember when there were members of Congress from both parties who put their country ahead of their political party.
That is no longer the case. If there is a single member of Congress who is more dedicated to the best interests of the United States of America and to the people they serve than they are to their party and their own self-interests, I don't know who it is.
I agree with you that there are Republicans and certainly Tea Party Members who are drinking the Kool Aid. But if your fair minded at all, you have to admit its not just them. There are plenty of Democrats who choose to give Obama a free pass and blame anyone and everyone other than the current administration for our present situation.
I think the only way out of this mess is for moderates in each party to begin to work together selflessly to rebuild the country. It will take a combination of more taxes and spending cuts.
It will take everyone contributing something. The U.S. cannot function as it should with half of its citizens paying no taxes at all and its billionaires paying less that its upper middle class citizens in taxes.
Ultra liberal Democrats are drinking their share of the Kool Aid too. It will take common accord from political centrist from both parties to get us out of this mess.
Jack Scott
Jack,
I'm 59 and I believe that like you I recall that time period of which you speak. Few politicians today seem to give a damn about the country and instead put themselves or their party first.
I would also note that while I'm not a Republican any longer, I'm not necassarily a Democrat. You might say that I am disaffected with BOTH parties, although the Christianist/anti-gay aspects of today's GOP tend to push me towards the Democrats simply because the Democrats don't want to recriminalize me.
Yes, moderates do need to somehow take control and work to fix the nation's problems. Given the polarization of the political parties, I have no idea of how that can be accomplished. I wish I did.
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