"Why I Left the GOP"

[Jamaal510]

More: http://www.salon.com/2012/09/10/why_i_left_the_gop/
[IMG][/IMG]

I used to be a serious Republican, moderate and business-oriented, who planned for a public-service career in Republican politics. But I am a Republican no longer.

There’s an old joke we Republicans used to tell that goes something like this: “If you’re young and not a Democrat, you’re heartless. If you grow up and you’re not a Republican, you’re stupid.” These days, my old friends and associates no doubt consider me the butt of that joke. But I look on my “stupidity” somewhat differently. After all, my real education only began when I was 30 years old.

This is the story of how in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and later in Iraq, I discovered that what I believed to be the full spectrum of reality was just a small slice of it and how that discovery knocked down my Republican worldview.

I always imagined that I was full of heart, but it turned out that I was oblivious. Like so many Republicans, I had assumed that society’s “losers” had somehow earned their deserts. As I came to recognize that poverty is not earned or chosen or deserved, and that our use of force is far less precise than I had believed, I realized with a shock that I had effectively viewed whole swaths of the country and the world as second-class people.

[Cha]

1. You're still heartless and Stupid if you're Are a republicon..

"There’s an old joke we Republicans used to tell that goes something like this: “If you’re young and not a Democrat, you’re heartless. If you grow up and you’re not a Republican, you’re stupid.”

Thanks Jamaal

[WhiteAndNerdy]

3. "Like so many Republicans, I had assumed that society’s 'losers' had somehow earned their deserts."

This is a big part of the difference in worldview between conservatives and liberals: conservatives tend to believe that people get what they deserve. If your life is good, it's because you earned it. If your life sucks, it's got to be your own fault somehow. Personal responsibility or worthiness is the only factor they acknowledge as having an impact on whether one is successful or not. It's a simplistic, immature, and irrational way of looking at the world that depends on ignoring facts in favor of doctrine.

Liberals tend to have a more holistic view and acknowledge the reality that not everything comes down to individual merit or effort -- that there are factors outside the control of individuals that can make or break you. I think we're more accepting of the unavoidable fact that humans are a social animal and no one really achieves anything without some support from society. (Even our ability to think logically depends to a great extent on language acquisition, meaning that even the achievement of very basic developmental milestones depends on the social environment.) Liberals believe in individual responsibility, too, but recognize that it is not the only factor determining how successful a person will be.

[pansypoo53219]

4. the party has been taken over by the fringe crazy wing.

fux gnewz + hate radio has ruined it.