My least favorite aspect of an election year is the unnecessary pressure for each of us to define ourselves by one of the four or so choices of political following. Are you a ultra-conservative? Left-wing, bleeding heart liberal? Middle of the road moderate? Can you drink soy and switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and still be a Republican? Can you be a Democrat and pro-life? I tire of America’s desperate need to categorize everyone into tidy little compartments so as to stereotype or hypothesize about what each group is going to do next. I’m not sure if it’s actually the American people who do this or the mass media. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much CNN, MSNBC and Fox News lately.
Nonetheless, I believe it is important to identify what I stand for and why, if for nothing else than to recognize and prioritize what values to impart to our children. Plus, simply making this short list apparently makes me more informed of a voter than 86% of the rest of America, according to NPR. Of course, that’s NPR.
Above a Republican, I am an American. My values trump any politician or political party. Above an American, I am a Christian, a conservative; but not a far right, Christian-conservative. That category is too zealous for my comfort.
I am pro-life, and won’t hesitate to remind you that the opposite of life is not choice. I know that umbilical cord blood is a richer source of stem cells than an unborn embryo – and donated cord blood from the placenta of both of our children to enable further such research. I believe we are winning the war on terror and need to remain in Iraq for a time to fortify and enable the Iraqi government to protect their own country and we, ultimately, our homeland security. I know our country was founded by immigrants and openly welcome immigrants from any country who take the proper steps towards legal citizenship. I believe those who choose to ignore that process should be sent home. I believe unions are frivolous bureaucracy, and would especially relish the disbanding of the national teacher’s union. I know far too many teachers who care more about their automatic, schedule-based pay increase than their duty to educate children. I believe a merit-based pay system would not only reward teachers performing leagues beyond their job descriptions, but also entice a new generation of educators who chose “real” jobs over education to earn a higher income.
But, all of that is nuts and bolts. Fundamentally, why am I a Republican?
I didn’t caucus for Mitt Romney, but his resignation speech summed it up for me:
"What is it about American culture that has led us to become the most powerfulI believe in the self-driven quest of the American dream.
nation in the history of the world? We believe in hard work and education. We
love opportunity: almost all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants
who came here for opportunity—opportunity is in our DNA. And we sacrifice
everything we have, even our lives, for our families, our freedoms and our
country.
"The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals haven’t given up. At every turn, they try to substitute government largesse for individual responsibility. They fight to strip work requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug—we have got to fight it like the poison it is!"
Remember that promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? Remember when the “pursuit” part used to be about hard work, blood, sweat, tears and self-sacrifice? Remember when the American dream was something you EARNED? When did that change? When did Americans become ENTITLED to the American dream? And, when did our government become expected to provide it to us?
This is not the purpose of government. The government is responsible for providing us 1) a military, police force and fire departments to provide safety (life), 2) constitutional freedoms and infrastructure (liberty) and 3) public education (the pursuit of happiness – most days). That’s it. When did socialized health care, welfare, Medicare, economy-stimulating tax rebate checks (although, I will hypocritically accept and put our refund to good use) and all the other socialized rubbish become the government’s responsibility?
Our country has fallen off track. This is why we don’t have a suitable Republican candidate to compete this year. McCain is not my Republican. Nonetheless, I am still a Republican.
2 comments:
Must have been something in the Semester at Sea water that makes us so perfectly in tune on this subject (and other odd activities...). Let's come up with a new label for ourselves - Progressive Conservatives. I'm sick of the Democrats using slick marketing tactics to position themselves as positive, fresh and caring and Republicans as stodgy, polluting, greedy, unenlightened people of privilege. So, Bex, let’s add a tofu eating, recycling, organic farming, volunteer-oriented, anti-litter, yoga enthusiast, open minded, culturally sensitive and confident Progressive Conservative Party to your identity list. No whiney, self-righteous babies in this camp!
Yes, my latest favorite is the media's misuse of the word "Democratic" as opposed to "Democrat," as to imply that Republicans are not democratic in their actions or beliefs.
I heard an example of this as late as this morning on ABC News: "Whether you're going to vote Democratic or Republican..." Aren't we ALL going to vote democratic(ally)?
When I call myself a Republican, I think I'm going to start calling others Democratics. That oughta twist a few minds.
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