What do the Republicans stand for these days?

[mdlbear]

[With permission, from a locked post by my nephew, because I felt it needed wider distribution.]

So, can someone explain to me what the Republicans stand for these days?

See, I was listening to a party guy on the radio [the show was On Point, on NPR] on the way home talking about what they need to do to regain power. That got me wondering if the Republican party stands for anything other than hate?

- small government? I think not.
- individual freedoms? Yeah right.
- fiscal responsibility? Have you looked at our deficit?
- pro-business? I can't really see how.

So...
- hate against pregnant women who want an abortion? Check.
- hate against gays who want to marry/adopt/have eights/etc... Yup.
- hate against people with drug problems (ie - throw them in jail) rather than rehab for them? Yup.
- hate against individual rights by limiting civil liberties? Yes.
- hate against the environment? I think so.


There was a caller who said that when he watched the democratic convention he saw a group of people full of hope and positive energy. When he watched the republicans he saw anger and fear. Is it any surprise Obama won?

So, I'm serious here. I know some of my friends at one point or another considered themselves to be republican. Step up and explain why please. I really want to know.

[I also have a link to this Salon article that essentially asks the same question.]

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The GOP right now resembles Harvey Dent... or Dr. Henry Jekyll. Definitely two personalities running around in there. I know old-school Republicans who are for small government, for business, for freedom... I count a few of them among my friends. (You know one of them; she got disgusted enough with the Dark Side of the GOP to vote Obama.) I also know *of* a bunch of right-wingnut pseudoreligious bigots - some only a single bus ride away! - that are currently wagging the GOP elephant... it's pretty freaking disgusting, frankly.

It's a surprise that Obama won simply because the Hyde side of the GOP was willing to do just about anything to win; the surprise was the tsunami of folks who inundated them at the ballot box and made all their dirty tricks moot.

What the GOP does with itself right now is not my problem. My problem is cleaning up their mess.

But right now I've another mess to clean up, one I'm getting paid to do. More later.