Republicans need re-branding. BADLY!

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Driving to an appointment with my boss recently, politics came up and though we both avoid the subject knowing we are on different sides, I could not help myself when he said "I just believe republicans are for the rich.  I just do."

This is a smart guy who pays attention to the news and educates himself.  But obviously if he believes what he said, he is listening to the main stream media and holding to that old axiom that says republicans are for the rich and democrats are for the working man.  I used to believe that myself at one time.  Not sure where I heard it but it stayed in my mind and formed my opinions for a very long time.  It seems that people who have grown up with that general idea continue to hold it as truth unless they become political junkies and really see the truth.

I launched into the idea that republicans care and are "for" everyone ..  and ended up talking about the 2008 meltdown and the Community Reinvestment Act .. when I was interrupted by a rest stop visit.  After that break, I changed the subject realizing I had traveled far from my resolve to not discuss politics.

The question remains, how does the republican party counter the idea that has been around forever and pounded into the public consciousness by democrats for as long as 2 parties have existed?  Why is it so hard to advance the notion that the main difference between the Republicans and democrats is that one believes in small government, and the other believes in big government?  That republicans believe in curing societies ills just as much as democrats do, just not by having the government do it?

A quote from Benjamin Franklin says

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

He understood welfare and how it has hurt the poor, before welfare existed.

Patrick Henry said

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."

And Abraham Lincoln said

"We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts--not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." 

Our job as citizens is to not become lazy by letting the government take care of us as that becomes tyranny.  Statistics show republicans give more to charity than democrats do, because we are compassionate and giving people who want to help our fellow man.  Democrats allow the government to take care of their fellow man FOR them, and believe that is government's role.

The difference between the parties has become so distorted by politicians trying to keep their jobs and media no longer remaining objective that the truth is no longer obvious.

The republican party needs re-branding.  It doesn't help that the GOP is not seen as "cool".  In a society so heavily influenced by popular culture, even young republicans are not seen as having new ideas.  I do not have the answers but I do know that many smart people do not truly understand what the party believes and stands for.  So by default, because the democrat party is construed as the party "of the people", republicans are thrown into the role of the bad guys.  We're not.

But how do we convey that?

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Romney "Mitt-slaps" Obama!!

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Okay so maybe I am the 12,324th person to say that.  BUT I LOVE IT!  What a time for Romney to come out swinging!  And somehow, he was still gracious about it. 

When the debate was over, President Obama greeted Michelle as she came up onstage and I swear she looked to me like she was about to throw up.  She had to know how bad it was.  (Think she was still proud of her country?) 

But instead of writing about how wonderful the debate was (and it really really was) - what struck me was the comparison between Obama last night - and Obama today.  Next to someone who really understands the economy, he was hanging onto his talking points by his finger nails, repeating the same untrue figures over and over again and trying to sound intelligent while not making sense. 

Today - in front of another hand-picked adoring audience - he was arrogant, sarcastic and full of himself as usual.  Next to Romney who was uber prepared and articulate Obama was simply outclassed in every sense of the word.  Today without anyone there to call him on his untruths and misdirections - he was rallying the crowds of believers, in his element. And I am afraid that is where he lives.  In a bubble where those around him let him believe his own press and prop up his ridiculous ideology.  But out in the real world on a stage with only one challenger, he crumbled.  He knew he could not defend his record and seemed stunned that every time he said something that was not accurate - Romney called him on it.  Every. Single. Time.

One of my biggest problems with the Obama campaign is that it is all smoke and mirrors, no substance and full of flat out lies.  It was a joy to see the POTUS silenced because someone dared to point out that he was not telling the truth.

Today - Obama went right back to the campaign trail where he feels most comfortable with the swooning crowds, dribbling sarcasm out of one side of his mouth and condescension out of the other. He is back to doing what Mitt said his boys have done - saying an untruth over and over again in hopes that people will believe it if he says it enough.  It's a little frightening to realize that the man who holds our great country in his hands right now, is horribly delusional.

He needs to go.  The suit is totally empty.

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Dream Team

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A long time ago, before all the Republican candidates had announced, I told friends my dream team would be Paul Ryan and Allen West.  I really didn't care which one was at the top, or the bottom of the ticket.  Either way would have been fine with me. 

Here is one reason Allen West has my respect:

 

 

I truly hope he goes places.

 

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ARGH-H-H-H!!!!!

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Joe Biden has put me over the top.  He is being beamed to me through my cable service onto my TV and he is lying to the American people.  Romney/Ryan doesn't want to preserve Medicare?  The plan they have on paper will bankrupt Medicare by 2016?? 

I am sick to death of being accused of being a bigot, of not caring about women, the middle class, and the poor!  I AM a woman!  I AM the middle class!  I HAVE been the poor!  But one thing I have never been is a BIGOT!

Liberals see everything through rose colored, emotion fueled glasses.  And when they take those glasses off every once in a while and see the actual truth, the cold hard facts, they scream about color, victimhood, and try to claim that no one actually CARES besides THEM!

I AM SO SICK OF IT!

WE ARE THE GROWN UPS IN THE ROOM.

We CARE.  We just disagree with the methods of helping people and taking care of our nation.

So, Joe Biden, just SHUT THE HELL UP!

Okay, I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.  Ahem.

Oh dear God it's Dick Durbin.  Give me strength.
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A Democrat sent this to me..

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To which I replied .. I KNEW you were a conservative deep down! 



 

 

She didn't get it.  :/  But I know YOU will!

 

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Slip sliding away ...

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... on a river of NyQuil, I fell asleep last night as balloons were falling at the RNC.  I heard a lot of Mitt Romney's speech, but mostly it had a dreamlike quality about it.  Not sure if what I heard was really what he said.  But earlier in the evening when the couple who lost their son spoke, and the woman who Mitt helped with her laundry when he came to her house - oh I cried.  I couldn't help myself.  And I wasn't crying simply because the stories were so touching.  I think part of the reason I was crying was because I knew these stories had to be out there.  I surmised a long time ago that Mitt did not talk about his good deeds because it is part of his faith to minister to other people, to do it, not talk about it.  And some of it finally came out.

Full disclosure, I was baptized as a Mormon, when I was a mere 17 years old.  Truthfully, I had a crush on one of the young 'elders' who came to our house and converted me.  So .. my conversion lasted about a year, and then I went back to being your basic Protestant.  But my experience with people of that faith has always been positive and I was SO hoping some of Mitt's goodness would come out.  His reluctance to talk about himself in that fashion has made people accuse him of not having a heart, of being uncaring and only being interested in making money.  I knew that couldn't be true, but I was afraid the truth would not come out.

Now it has.  And now I'd like to see Barack Obama show his compassion and love for his fellow man demonstrated in a personal way - where are his stories?  Does he have any?  Honestly, I doubt it.

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Representing the White House

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Ugh.



 

I am NOT proud.

 

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Tomorrow's voters

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I started a new job in July, after leaving a company I worked for - for 25 years.  It was a tough decision but one I needed to make.  One of the biggest adjustments has been to find myself in the midst of several twenty-somethings, right out of college and full of knowledge they think they have. 

Sometimes I feel out of place.

My job is health care, health care I.T. to be more precise.  One of my co-workers in 22 years old and her specialty is medical billing, CPT codes and all of that fun stuff.  That's great but she doesn't know how any of it applies in the real world which is to be expected to some degree.  But what frightens me is how she will say things so casually as if they are fact.

"Y'know Mitt Romney wants to get rid of Medicare."

Before I sprayed my tea out of my nose, I managed to calmly say "No, no he doesn't.  He will have to make changes to it so it can survive, but he does not want to get rid of it.  And if those changes aren't made, Medicare will go broke anyway."

She looked surprised that I apparently disagreed with her "fact".  I mean, wasn't this just KNOWN?

My boss, who knows me from my prior job jumped in and gently explained to my young colleague that it's generally not a good idea to talk about some things at the work place.  Things like - oh - religion and politics.  She seemed surprised by that too but on the other hand, this is the person who looked at me the other day and said "If you don't mind me asking, how much money do you make?"
Yikes!

People wonder why I am so concerned about the youth out there.  They have been told over and over how important a college education is, but no one has told them that every scintilla of information they get there can actually be questioned.  So many don't.  That frightens me. Especially since most universities these days are bastions of liberal thought. 

They learn, are influenced, and they vote. 

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I'm glad I didn't vote.

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Not too many years ago people would say to me - don't complain - you didn't vote.  And my reply would be that I didn't have to vote to be able to complain, that's what's great about the United States - free speech extends even to people that don't vote!

Why didn't I vote?  Because politics bored me silly and when I tried to pay attention it just didn't sink in.  My eyes would glaze over and off I'd be onto something else.  I'd convinced myself it was all too enormous - the economy, foreign policy, domestic policy, the house, the senate, secretaries of this and secretaries of that.  I knew who the main people were but beyond that - the whole subject didn't compute for me.  I reasoned that I was uninformed and would rather not vote than place an uninformed one. 

I thought I was a democrat because at some time in my life I remembered someone (no idea who) telling me that democrats were the party of the working man, and republicans were for the rich.  So I must be a democrat, right?

Then September 11th happened.

Suddenly I paid attention.  I found myself drawn to the news, day in and day out.  Suddenly, people who I rolled my eyes at in the past when they said they were political junkies started to make sense to me.  I was hooked and I realized - I wasn't a democrat.  Not sure I'm actually a republican either but much more on the right than the left.  It took the next few years for me to realize what I believed and who I believed in and to form strong enough opinions to confidently feel like I could vote as an informed member of the electorate.

In November of 2004 I voted in my first election, ever.  And I voted with both of my children who were voting in their first national elections.  We went together.

Every citizen in this nation has the right to vote.  But I sincerely wish that if they cannot say they are truly informed - they would wait to vote until they are.  Especially in this election.  It is too important to be a popularity contest or a response to the slickest campaign.

I'm glad I didn't vote before I educated myself.  Because I wouldn't have been voting for the right reasons or with the correct information.

I mean really - the People of Walmart vote.  It's scary out there.