Patriotism and America

When I consider the kind of citizen I have been in my life, I’d say I was the usual. I closed my eyes and ears to political parties. I chose one but I never worked for that party or even debated the pros and cons of a certain candidate. I knew in the Indiana County where I grew up there were mostly Democrats. My family had always registered Democratic. When I married my husband was a Democrat, though I am certain his party affiliation was not a factor in loving him.

For most of my working life I was too busy to really consider the ramifications of voting for this person or that one. I had no knowledge of or curiosity about how the parties mounted and ran elections. I thought my decisions were mine alone. This lazy way or being a citizen has changed.

During the 1970’s I worked for a man who supported Richard Nixon for President. He told me I was going to donate to the man’s campaign and I did. I mean this man could make my working life difficult. I got reimbursed through the company’s petty cash. I find out now that Richard Nixon with the help of Patrick Buchanan, a 27 year old erstwhile editorial writer for a St. Louis newspaper, designed what was the Southern Strategy. Their method was to delve deeply into the inherent bigotry and xenophobia in the South thereby disenfranchising Democrats. This was not an accident. This was a calculated act.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/26/080526fa_fact_packer

Once conservatives were Republicans, but the Republican Party became something other than conservative.

We have endured eight years in this last reincarnation of the Republican lead country. The national debt is near $10 trillion, over three times what it was in 2000. We are in the midst of a war started under the Bush Doctrine, which says in part that we have the right to invade a country that has not in any way invaded us. Iraq did not send terrorists seven years ago. In fact, no sovereign country did. The 9/11 men were Saudi’s. The leader of this band of killers fled to Afghanistan to hide. We attack Iraq, which puts us in the middle of a civil war that seven years later costs our country $10 billion a month and the lives of thousands of our children, husbands, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.

In the next six weeks we will be harangued by special interest groups who are pushing a man and woman to lead the country from the same party that played fast and loose in the past two elections. These groups will not be working to inform us of the positive attributes of these candidates. They will spread rumors, point out foibles of the opposition and outright lie pushing us to think negatively and buy into our fears.

This is the party that used to be for a small government and conservative ideals about money and its use in the private sector. Conservatives want small government and everyone to stand on their own two feet. I don’t know what you would call the people who pushed deregulation of our financial institutions and railed against universal health care for all citizens and then gave almost a trillion dollars to corporations who played fast and loose with their depositors money.

If I am going to own a bank, mortgage company and Insurance Company, I expect some shares of stock in the mail. No. I won’t be waiting with baited breath for that to happen. What I will do is go to work, take care of my responsibilities and pay my taxes. And another thing, I will work to make certain me and mine focus on the reality of things and vote for what is good for the country not the special interests.