Vote Republican If You Hate America

Voting Republican is not patriotic. Unless, of course, you believe that being a patriot means selling out your fellow countrymen to make more money. And, if we go by the 2004 election results, more than half of the people who voted feel this way. The question is, how were the Republicans able to hijack the idea of patriotism, convolute it’s meaning and convince people to vote against their own best interests?

Republicans stand for everything that is wrong with our government and our country. I’m not even going to go near George W. Bush because, as far as I can tell, he’s a complete psychopath (and I’m going to use him as a textbook example as to why people shouldn’t use drugs). Read this if you don't believe me. So, I’ll use john McCain and his “lobbyist problem” as my example. I could care less if they ever held hands, canoodled or whatever, that’s not the issue (but the Republicans would like you to focus on that because it’s easier to defend). No, the real issue is McCain’s sense of integrity and judgment. Why would someone who is so outspoken against lobbyists in the legislative process turn around and accept favors from and do favors for a lobbyist? McCain garnered huge campaign donations from this lobbyist’s clients, which leads one to believe that he was doing something for these people (and he was). McCain put his own self-interests above the needs of the American people and then expected people not to notice or care.

Yet somehow Republicans have managed to trick the general population into believing that they stand for “small government, low taxes,” and have labeled the Democrats as “tax and spend.” However, this is completely incorrect and not based in reality. For an example of how Republicans actually govern we’ll use Ronald Reagan (everything about his presidency). George W. bush says that if his tax cuts are not made permanent “the average American will see a tax increase of $1,087,” which is true, but not accurate. Bush is averaging the tax increase that millionaires will see and the decrease that the lower and middle class will see and it still comes out to an increase. Here, I can play that same game: Bill Gates and a homeless man have an average of $20 billion between them. That’s true, but it’s not accurate.

The hypocrisy is maddening. If being patriotic meant blindly accepting whatever the government says and does, there wouldn’t be an America for us to be patriotic about. If the founding fathers had not stood up to the injustices of the King, we would not be Americans. So, obviously, in America being patriotic means speaking out against a government that is unjust and asserting our right to personal freedom. However, Republicans would have you believe that being patriotic means believing whatever they say and accepting their corrupt ways as “best for America.”

Look at the titles of their legislation: The USA PATRIOT Act (clever acronym: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) which actually weakens civil liberty protection; the Protect America Act which allows the government to invade your privacy; the No Child Left Behind Act which, aside from being completely ineffective and weakening our public school system, actually requires all schools to distribute the name and home phone number of all enrolled students to military recruiters. These examples of legislation don’t even scratch the surface, but they illustrate the fact that Republicans have established a system in which voting against their fascist ideas makes it easy for them to point to someone and say “That person isn’t a patriot because they voted against the USA PATRIOT act,” or whatever legislation they are pushing. (On a side note, where can I get a job making up acronyms?)

And, I’m still not sure how Republicans can claim to be the party of morality and righteousness. Literally every day another Republican is indicted, outed or arrested (or some combination thereof). Just this week we’ve had McCain and his lobbyist issues, his campaign co-chair Rick Renzi indicted on 35 counts of fraud, extortion and money laundering, and Bush-appointed federal judge Robert Somma arrested for DUI while wearing drag. I mean, C’MON! Where do they find these people?! Their moral compasses a beyond broken, and yet Republicans continue to claim that they (as in all of them) are of sound morals and judgment. Nope. I’m not buying that at all.

I could go on forever. The corruption is deep and widespread. Republicans have hijacked America and turned it into their own little perverted playground. It’s time for us to take it back. Every time a Republican does something and then tries to sweep it under the rug, we’ll be there to keep it plain sight. Since the media is not going to help, we’re going to have to be the vigilant, patriotic citizens our founding fathers envisioned. Don’t let people hold our leaders to the low standard Bush has set. Expect more from our government. Vote Democratic in 2008!