Conservative Republicans, My Lost FriendsThis is an open letter to my conservative friends. Your party is in trouble. Not because of who is in charge now, but because you are not raising your replacements. When your generation loses power, the children of the Christian Right - the new theocrats - will take your place. On the left we are raising our next powerful generation, a new wave of center-left thinkers that will take America back from this divisive, average-is-OK future envisioned by the far right. Please help us! America deserves better. It is no longer acceptable to sit on the sidelines and HOPE everything turns out alright. - Nicholas Steele For those of you who are not old enough to remember what republicans were like under Ronald Reagan (not the right-wing, Ralph Reed republicans coming of age in the 1980's but the true-blue, old-school conservatives), your party was filled with thoughtful, quiet, intelligent, passionate bastions of free-enterprise and self-reliance. These were the pre-Newt, pre Contract-on-America days when only a few in the old guard relied on cheap tricks and outright lies to win elections. I hated and admired these people. I could never accuse them of committing treason - they honestly believed in the cause and they would do anything for their country. We could find common ground and agree to disagree. We were civil with each other. We respected each other. We were patriots with differing views of patriotism. Then something changed. The dark side took over the party and cast a long shadow over truth and integrity. It was the rise of the Great White Victim, followed by the Endangered Christian Victim. In one slow-motion train wreck, the new breed of republicans killed off America's self-reliant, can-do attitude and replaced it with the current "not my fault", "not my responsibility" attitude. They convinced people that society, culture, and the media are to blame. "If only we had more family-oriented TV" they cried. "If only we didn't have rap music. If only we had more Christian movies. If we didn't have pornography... Without these ills our society would be a better place. " Well gang, what the old-school conservatives understood and what liberals still understand is this - culture, society, and the media are reflections of our consolidated souls. We vote with our time and our money. Our consumer-based culture responds to our consumption. We consume, they produce. We don't consume, they try something else. THEY do not need to change. WE need to change. I want my friends back. I want us to have long discussions about what is right and what is decent. I want us to stop shouting at each other. I want us to continue our discussions on the role of government. But I fear the days of civil conversation are gone. I fear that my friends are long gone. Victory, it seems, is more important than integrity. The old-school conservatives have surrendered their party and are unwilling to fight to win it back. Or maybe they would try but they're simply too tired and too old. My worst fear is this - they no longer care. While Democrats may have a party "no more", we will rebuild on a strong, historical, center-left foundation. Conservatives? Given the current theocracy you are an endangered species headed to extinction. When we remove the theocrats from power, there is no one to rebuild the conservative base on the republican side. So those of you who still care should come join the center-left. Maybe you can push us to the center! Given the credit card republicans asleep at the fiscal wheel, you really don't have a home any more. We will welcome you. And you will still be hanging with the winners - only this time your integrity will be intact. |
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