I belong to neither the Democrat nor the Republican parties. The reason for that is that I cannot stand the labels that come with belonging to either one.
Historically, both parties have had some very fine politicians and leaders who I admire greatly. The Democrats can trace their roots back to Thomas Jefferson whose political descendants include Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sam Rayburn and John F. Kennedy. The Republican Party started off on a noble cause to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln is one of my childhood heroes. I’ve admired Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt in their party. Although I was not a fan of his domestic policies, I did admire the way Ronald Reagan stood up to the Soviet Union and helped bring about it’s collapse. It used to be that while each party stood on it’s own platforms, they were always willing and able to work together for the betterment of the nation (with the exception, of course, of the American Civil War).
Today, however, the political area is much more polarized. We are divided by economic class, race, gender and sexuality. Major lobbyist groups hold powerful sway with both parties to the point where it is hard to see where the party’s platform begins and the lobbyist ends.
I find fault with both parties on their stand on the sanctity of human life. The Republicans are against abortion and yet are for the death penalty. The Democrats want to end the death penalty but are for abortion. How can you be both for life but against it?
The Republicans use the military as a tool for foreign policy way too often. Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘Big Stick’ policy worked in the early 20th Century but it fails when applied in the 21st. The Democrats are believed to be soft on defense and their record over the past 20 years makes that argument a pretty strong one. The truth: neither party knows how to effectively or efficiently use the armed forces of the United States.
I’m a Christian and am not ashamed to declare this openly. It has become vogue to ‘debunk’ and call Christians such colorful names as ‘Christo-Nazis’ by those who do so know absolutely nothing about the faith which they criticize. Unofficial spokespersons for the right and the left such as Rosie O’Donnell and Anne Coulter have both abused and misused religion for their own party’s political ends. Fat Rosie for the Democrats and Anorexic Anne for the Republicans. Neither of these two innerly ugly women can rightfully speak for or against Christianity because, truth is, they know nothing about it and just shoot from their mouths. It would be best if they just left the religion to those who actually practice what they preach and stop smearing a faith that is based upon the 2000 year old teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus will still be here long after both Fat Rosie and Anorexic Anne are nothing but bad memories and dust.
I have grown tired of both parties using sexuality to batter each other. Neither party are pariahs of good taste and both have their own sexual skeletons in their closets. Neither can say that they can speak for morality (when both members are guilty of visiting prostitutes, accepting kickbacks or fondling pages, you have no high ground to stand on). One side of the coin is too harsh; the other is way too accepting. God teaches us to temper justice with mercy but he also set a standard of conduct and behavior he expects us to follow. The Kingdom of Heaven is not free; there is an admission price.
Which comes down to the blame game. Because neither party is willing to budge or to compromise with each other they spend an awful lot of time and resource blaming the other side for their own faults at not coming to an agreement. There are two sides to every story and every truth has a bit of fiction in it. It takes two to tango. If you are aren’t tango-ing, it’s because you’ve both become tangled up. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are far too blind and narrow sighted to see the forest for the trees.
I’m tired of the blame game now. You’ve even got me involved in it. I’m so tired of being called right wing by those on the left and leftist by those on the right. It is like I am being silenced by both sides. I am not allowed to disagree with them or to come up with my own solutions. How narrow minded is that?
To my critics, and there will be many, I say this. You both know where you can both stick your proverbial labels, your insults and your slurs? It’s a place where the sun don’t shine and I hear that the procedure for putting labels, insults and slurs there can be quite painful.
I am going my own way.
I no longer vote by party lines. I vote by the character of the candidate and what I believe he or she is serious or not about doing for the people who elect them. I really don’t agree with either platform for either party which is a sad commentary on the state of affairs for American politics.
