The Current Undercurrent of the Republican Party.

For several years now I've been working to change Republican's views on the Republican Party. The best way to show them the way is to tell them what's important about the party. When I get in a discussion or argument about politics I explain who I am - an Independent with views based in both Party's traditions. I talk about what's going on in the Republican Party and why the current administration is NOT Republican. My tag that I use constantly starts out as a bait. When they pounce and say something like "Do you have a problem with Republicans"? I come back and say something along the line of, "Quite contrary. I love Republicans and if there were any in the current administration, I'd be very happy".
Most recently, Tony Snow was being interviewed by Bill O'Reilly and said something that I had been saying for years now and I was shocked to hear it from him.

"The Republican Party's fallen off the rails. It's forgotten about fiscal discipline, it's forgotten about the importance of liberty--"

Let us look at where the Republican Party has faltered from the traditional Party values.

1. Abortion - Roe v. Wade has absolutely nothing to do with abortion. If you read the actual wording, it explains that government can NOT tell you what to do with your body. If it gets overturned, that's a slippery slope that could put us all in confinement. Traditionally the Republican Party has been vociferous in its belief that government should stay out of peoples lives. The religious Reich has been instrumental in altering this belief which brings up another Republican tradition that's gone awry. Since when has the Republican Party EVER believed that the church should tell them what to do. That's contrary to all the Republican traditional values as well as the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

2. Spying on US Citizens - Bush is certainly not the first and likely won't be the last. Since Nixon, the Republicans have decided that taking away our privacy is okay provided it's for a good reason. Again, the thing about "government should stay out of peoples lives". Why would any Republican allow this.

3. Big Business and Trickle Down(supply side) Economics - Let's face it, and Republicans aren't going to like this. The only thing that trickles down in supply side economics is what trickled down Ronald Reagan's leg as well as his big business buddy's legs. The Republican's base was always the blue collar worker and unions but over the years it has begun to side with big business and has begun to screw the unions. That, my Republican friends, is not Republican values!
Ronald Reagan found that "trickle down" didn't work so he asked Alan Greenspan what to do. Alan Greenspan told him to borrow from social security and it will never show up since it's a separate set of books. The Republicans have been trying to cover up the damage ever since by saying management of social security is causing it to go bankrupt when in actuality it was the fiscal irresponsibility of the New(Republican) Deal that screwed the economy. Fiscal responsibility was always a Republican value until Reaganomics. Bush has taken it to new levels with a trillion dollars for this "six day" war.
I could harp on lost Republican economic values but it would take all day. I liken the current economic situation to a body builder who goes into the gym and works his right bicep for 7 years while the rest of his body turns to fat. He can no longer climb stairs because his heart muscle is nearly dead. In this case, the heart is composed of working Americans and the middle class. In the mean time the current administration keeps saying, "check out my bicep. Nice huh"?
In the 90's, the Republican congress pushed through "free trade" instead of "fair trade" which helped the rest of the world and big business but not America. They should be wearing their American Flag lapel pins upside down for pulling crap like that.

4. The Environment - When big business became the focus of the Republican party it lost an important value. The gun lobby has always been very powerful. I hunted with my father as a child. I was even a Scout - Both Republican bases always. Now the Republican party has sided with big business to destroy the land I used to hunt on. The land I used to camp on. It has taken what belonged to The People and given it to big business and allowed big business to manage it to within an inch of its life. Teddy Roosevelt is rolling in his grave. Why wouldn't a conservative want to conserve the environment. What good are guns if you have no where to use them but the streets. For big business, the current "Republican" Party has shot the gun lobby in the back yet they haven't even realized it.

5. Immigration - I had always backed the Republican Party on this until now. The traditional ideal wasn't racist. It just stated that allowing too much immigration would hurt middle America and the blue collar base. It's odd when you look at a true traditionalist Republican because the Republican Party was founded by a lawyer who was against slavery. Now, Lincoln has been spinning in his grave because the previous time before the early seventies when the Republicans lost their base they convinced Americans that the reason America was was going through bad times was because of those other races. They used fear back then too. But then, it wasn't the terrorists who threatened America's way of life, it was those others. Middle America bit hard on that bait and they've been dangling on the line ever since.

By the way. The next time any Republican complains that we shouldn't allow a trial lawyer like John Edwards to be President, remind him or her that the Republican Party was started by a trial lawyer and that they should probably seek out their own traditional values.

These are but a few traditional Party values that have been lost that are the stumps of the trunk of the former tree that grew from them.

When the Republican Party was losing their base they sold their soul to the devil and the biggest business of them all - the church, in hopes to revive their Party. The traditional Republican Party has slit their own throats in trying to get big money fast from big business to support their fledgling party. Their base is now the top two percent earners of the country. As the former base, those 23 percenters, begin to dissolve from the Republican Party, it will lay writhing on on the floor until that last drop of tradition falls from their self inflicted wound.

Nothing is more true than what Bush 43 said now 2 years ago, "We'll stand down when they stand up." No one was aware that he was speaking of the Republican Party of which he claims to belong. When some true Republicans stand up against this administration the Party will be saved but I fear it's too late.