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The Louisiana primary was this past weekend, and Little Ricky Santorum picked up another win. Republicans 4 Freedom‘s Ron Hill mused about his options…
Saturday is the Louisiana GOP primary. Here in New Orleans, I’m sipping a Mint Julep and pondering which anti-gay big government conservative I shall vote for.
Shall I vote for the anti-gay Big Government conservative who flip-flops more often than John Kerry?
Shall I vote for the anti-gay Big Government conservative who is the darling of the “family values” crowd despite being a thrice-married serial adulterer?
Or shall I vote for the anti-gay Big Government conservative who is the favorite of the Taliban, with plans to arrest gay citizens and control women’s bodies all in the name of “less government” and “freedom”?
What the hell has happened to the party of Eisenhower and Goldwater?
All the current GOP candidates for president support MORE government intrusion and less individual liberty and freedom on issues like who American’s can marry – the most personal and private decision of all; on women’s own bodies (government mandated rape, anyone? Let’s just call it transvaginal ultrasound); on what you can smoke (apparently tobacco should be legal in every instance but marijuana should result in incarceration, because, you know, marijuana kills millions of Americans (NOT). Of course, Rick Santorum would ban pornography and birth control all in the name of “freedom”.
And all of the GOP candidates would enshrine discrimination into the constitution - using government not to safeguard rights but to take rights away from American citizens. Goldwater, Eisenhower, and even Reagan would roll over in their grave.
It’s a damn shame what has happened to the GOP. America needs a responsible, adult, and intelligent alternative to the Democratic Party – too bad we don’t have one. But what does one expect when magazines that were formerly the vanguard of the conservative movement – like National Review – has replaced the intellectual brilliance of William F. Buckley and David Frum with commentary from demagogues such as Maggie Gallagher?
Bill Buckley would despise what has become of both National Review and the GOP. Our party has become everything Goldwater, Eisenhower and Buckley opposed.
It bears repeating:
The single biggest external threat to America’s freedom and liberty is religious fundamentalism of the Muslim variety; and America’s biggest internal threat to freedom and liberty is also religious fundamentalism – this time of the Christian variety. Both seek to use the power of government to force their personal, literal interpretation of religious text onto everyone in society. Neither is “less government” or “pro-freedom.” Both would destroy lives, families and freedom.
Indeed, religious fundamentalism is – by its very nature – directly opposed to freedom and liberty.
For the rational wing of the Republican Party – what’s left of it – I remain
Ron Hill
2 Comments
Ron, I’m sorry for your loss. I lived in Arizona during the time of Goldwater. He didn’t want government in people’s bedrooms and even said once, “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight.” The early crop of extremism Republicans started arriving on the scene before he died and tried to get his approval. He didn’t like any of them. The ones today would be chastised by him, but to no avail.
It reminds me of a commercial Bank of America is running about them lending a family in the 1930s the money to start a hot dog business and the members of the family said how friendly and helpful the bank was. This is suppose to somehow make people think BoA hasn’t changed in 80 years. As we all know, that’s BS. Well, the new crop of Republicans are trying to pull the same prank, evoking Reagan’s memory, thinking they can get traction from his name. Even Barbara Bush thinks they’re a bunch of idiots. The pendulum has swung to the far extreme right. It’ll take time for it to come back.
Ron — I’ll tell you what happened to the Republican party of Goldwater, Buckley and Eisenhower: the infestation by the religious reicht.
When Reagan welcomed these religious fanatics into the party — and here’s the most ironic part! — they used the same tactics they claimed the “commies” would use to infiltrate the US!
The religious reicht came in and did the scut work like envelope stuffing, phone banking, etcetera until it was time for the leadership to be voted on, then the fanatics pounced and began taking over the party structure in all levels!
Once the religious reicht was in charge, they began purging the ranks of moderates because they weren’t “pure” enough a conservative to suit their radical needs.
Another way the Christian Taliban use the same infiltration tactics they claimed the “reds” would use to take over America is in the judiciary.
The Big Three “Christian law schools” — Regent, Liberty and Ave Maria — have as a goal to put their so-called graduates in all levels of the judiciary in order to eventually and (in their perverted minds!) legally remove the Constitution and impose totalitarian theocratic rule in this country!
Remember the debacle over the US Attorneys who were fired by the Bushies because they refused to invent examples of voter fraud in order to restrict the people’s ability to vote? Well, replacement Attorneys were called by these mindless drones, and were asked for loyalty to BUSH and *not* the country!
*That’s* what happened to your party, Ron…