In all seriousness, I don't hate President Bush. I dislike a lot of his administration's choices, but I think he's a good man doing a difficult job. As a leader, you're always going to be hated. I am too often shocked by the vitriolic repulsion many people feel for our leader and America in general, especially because the loathing is often poorly informed. I've met people on this campus who see America as the worst human rights abuser in the world (unlike the angelic paradise of Cambodia) and people who sway liberal not because they actually know anything about issues but because it's popular.
Liberalism has to be more than a college fad or a collection of loudmouths whose idiotic comments stir headlines. The rabid dislike some people feel for a man they've never even met makes me ashamed to be a Democrat.
If that's the only reason you're ashamed to be a Democrat....
15 comments:
I heart you. You're my new Californian hero. Keep up the good work.
That is the most poorly-written, ill-conceived thing I've seen, even in a college paper. If that's the best the J-school at Oregon has to offer, we're going to hope for Dan Rather back.
Philosopher Poet:
After checking out your Live Journal bio, and learning among other things that you're from Wisconsin, I admit to being most surprised to learn I'm you're new hero. Thank you for the compliment, and welcome to my fan club!
Oh, you're the charter member. Please start designing a cool logo and motto.
thc:
Unfortunately I've not read much in college newspapers that impresses me. That in itself doesn't bode well for journalism.
What do the Republicans do that you're ashamed of?
Certainly there must be something.
OK, I *cannot* believe I typed "you're" instead of "your" in my comment above. Ugh.
"OK, I *cannot* believe I typed "you're" instead of "your" in my comment above. Ugh."
English is not my first language. I am sorry to you.
An answer would be nice.
Are you ashamed of some of the things that Republicans do?
While I don't agree with certain policies of my Republican leaders, or with certain elements of the Republican platform, I'm not ashamed of the Republican Party at all.
Should I be?
Actually, Peaches, I now understand your point. *You* used "you're" correctly. It was *I* who used it incorrectly in my first comment.
I would not be so petty as to correct such a simple error from another unless the person really did something to deserve it. You obviously have not.
Your use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation is just fine :-)
Darren,
I can't fault you for pride in an organization to which you belong. Whether it's the chess club, bowling league, or political party, folks want to belong and want the groups to which they belong to succeed. But the way the winds are blowing, I wish more people would call themselves Americans first and party members second. What's good for a party is generally not linked to the nation's improvement.
Here is Georgia, the state gov't has been run by the Dems for a billion years, mostly imcompetently. But when the GOP takes over, and they make it their first order of business to change the house and senate rules to ensure that the majority has final say in each and every law and bill, I just can't take pride in that.
In GA and TX, both parties have acted shamefully in gerrymandering their districts to max out the votes for their parties, to the extent that here in GA you can have three neighbors on the same street who vote in different districts.
I'll stop there.. have a big rant about Rove and South Carolina and why I ripped up my GOP card, but it's too inflamatory for this time of the morning...
Like I said, I certainly don't agree with everything the parties do, and I definitely agree that we should be Americans first.
But "ashamed" of the Republicans? I'm not going to go that far. Yet. Read this post:
http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2005/03/coming-republican-schism.html
http://www.itstopsinvirginia.com/daschle.html
If you still need a reason to be ashamed of the RNC, here's a good one: total lack of honor or integrity. Lying comes so naturally to some people, it seems.
Not a pro- or anti- either party article -- more the take from someone in the radical middle, on how both parties got where they are.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200401/halstead
Sheepishkaputnik, I laugh every time I hear a lib, no doubt in flowing pure white robes, not only say that conservatives lie, but imply that they are the only ones who do.
Stating categorically that the President was AWOL is a lie. Stating categorically that obviously forged documents were real, and trying to pass them off as real, is a lie. Saying there's nothing wrong with the social security system, after decades of being afraid to "fix" the "third rail of American politics", is a lie. Saying the economy is in bad shape when all indicators point up--that's an interesting opinion.
And those are just from the last election.
And if you *even* try to throw out the WMD argument in your favor, I'll pull out all the quotes from President Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, Tom Daschle, et al.
As Obi-Wan explained to Luke, some things are true "from a certain point of view." Doesn't make them lies. But some things are lies, and deserve to be called such.
I can hardly think of any large political party that hasn't done anything to be ashamed of. I think if the Democrats and Republicans spent more time listening and less time blaming each other, the country might be much better governed than it generally has been.
That said, I can't see that the current administration has demonstrated successful policy-making in a number of important areas: the environment (the EPA has been selling off public resources to private interests for low prices ever since Bush took office), science policy, health insurance, among others. And there are plenty of Republicans who disagree with cutting taxes and borrowing billions to pay for a war on the installment plan, particularly when the money is borrowed from China, giving that up and coming power a dangerous amount of leverage over the US economy.
But that doesn't mean I want Bush dead!
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