StarbuckDifranco's Journal

If you read this, you know, I don't know what your politics are and I don't mean to offend you.  But I want to vent that I get extremely offended by hardcore republicans who posit that if anyone does not agree with their political view, they are anti-American.  Ironically, to me THAT sounds like the "un-American" thing.  Now, I actually thought that the "if you aren't for Bush's Iraq war then you are unpatriotic" rhetoric had been totally debunked and all rational and sane people were not pointing fingers and saying 'unpatriotic' anymore.  Turns out, the hate and virtriol on the right has reached a fever pitch; it is worse than ever, and not just about foreign policy--about everything.

Republican representative Robin Hayes lied and claimed he did not say this, but there was audio tape....he said, quote: "Folks, there's a Real American [Gov. Palin]. Liberals hate Real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve, and believe in God."  To rousing applause from his audience, a Palin rally.

Generally you gotta be thick-skinned in an election year.  But comments such as those are beyond the pale, and I know that as a progressive voter when people say "liberals" I am lumped into that group.

Folks, I have worked one way or another my whole life, I have many achievements of which I am proud, I pay taxes, I vote, and not only do I believe in God but I'm in Sunday school and church almost every Sunday, my whole life.  I used to be completely apolitical, up until near the end of college, but what turned me into a "liberal" is studying the New Testament and the message of Jesus Christ.  Some Biblical scholars have no problem writing research papers about how Jesus was a socialist, because it is easy to draw comparisons there.  Now, I am not going to come out and say if he were here in the flesh today that Jesus would be for any particular party, but I WILL say that I am baffled at all these so-called "Christian" right-wingers who have a huge problem with the very notion of redistribution of wealth, when their supposed Lord And Savior clearly advocates "sell all your worldly possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow me."

One would think that, instead of making socialism a bad word and the crux of an attack on the opposition, that logically since the republican party promotes itself as the party of Christians, they would instead be on the forefront of things that Jesus Christ either mandated or even merely suggested.

The truth is, if you compare things Jesus said in the Gospel to republican policies in any area, they are usually for the OPPOSITE of what Jesus would want us to do.

There is a lot of slick and hypocritical wriggling in the republican rhetoric for justifying their agenda despite having control of a "christian" base.

I am no saint; I am just an average woman and a Believer. But over the past 8 years in particular, I have taken to putting references to this group in quotes and with a lower-case C.  They claim to be Christians, but other than they are really great at church attendance and making time for prayer, I fail to see any Christ-like values in them.  They certainly don't speak for me.

That should be enough, just that 'they don't speak for me'; but just as I practically called them 'not-really-Christian' above, such people regularly call folks who believe and think and vote as I do "unChristian, unpatriotic, communist, satanic" and so on.  Religion is such a personal thing, none of us should be going there, in the slightest. But these "christian right" republicans not only go there, they go frequently, loudly, and as ugly and nastily as they can.  Is this what Jesus would do?  (I think they would actually answer yes....and I think that if you study the New Testament, you will find that they are wrong.)

You can disagree with me, but you have to admit that I raise some points and have an argument here.  If I can at least give you lots of reasons why I believe and think and live and vote the way I do, who are you to discount it and try to discredit it? What makes you so special? Let he or she who is without sin cast the first stone.  If your life is so perfect and you have a direct line to God and God speaks to you clearly and tells you who is or is not Christian and who is or is not "American" enough -- whatever that means -- then you go ahead and cast your stones.  I know of Catholics who abuse their family members.  I know of Baptists who cheat poor people out of earned wages.  No one is immune to the fact that we are all just stupid humans!

Well, I am sick and tired of living in The United Stupid of America...I want us all to get a lot smarter.  Be smarter, act smarter, vote smarter.  Be better to one another, and be much better global citizens.  Barack Obama--for the past 18 or 20 years, mind you, not just the past 2--has wanted the same thing.

One reason I began supporting Obama early on (my husband liked John Edward's message, but I had a 'bad feeling' about him due to a live-mic incident) is because he is a bigger man than me -- I feel that since 1993 or so, I have been absorbing so much hatred and bile from conservatives, and as a female child of the 1970s who learned to put up with bullying and sexism and fight back...what I know how to do best is fight back.  Hate you back, tell you what is wrong with you in response to you telling me what is wrong with me.  But Barack says, uh-uh! we Americans need to cut this out. As Colin Powell just said, we need to pull ourselves together.

I am willing to do that.  I have been willing for years.  But the other side of the political spectrum only knows attack, attack, attack.  And that's all John McCain and his crowd have been doing.  And you know what?  While it resonates with this base of typically nasty republicans who have been trained the past 20 years to function this way, it is NOT WORKING any longer on the regular, neutral, apolitical voter.

Is there a clear difference between the candidates?  You betcha.  And I am going to vote for the bigger man.  Not the one who is a bigger man than his opponent, but the one who inspires me to be a better human being.  Now THAT'S the American way.