Why I gave up on being a Republican (GOP "infected by... political rabies")

[freshwest]

4. I know, but you have to consider the age. He was repeating his folks in the 4th grade, thinking that

Last edited Mon Jun 18, 2012, 02:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Mom and Dad or whoever, loved him and was telling him the right way to live. This is the reason that many people resist changing their minds because on a deep emotional level, you are disrespecting something that they saw as part of survival. Parents teach their children whatever they believe will save their lives.

Errors in that are hard to erase because of the bond. And the introduction of religion if not done in a grossly abusive manner, causes the child to feel they have reached something clean and wholesome, even if later one realizes it's not logical. And during the Reagan era this continued to go increasingly wrong. This is why there has always been a focus on education, and you can see where the right has been pushing for years to control those younger minds.

This man was a different generation. I was in the 6th grade when Kennedy was running against Nixon. There were plenty who felt afraid of any change, especially in the Cold War era. All they'd known in their lives was Eisenhower. And Nixon was supposed to be like him.

We had an election in our class and it was very close, but Kennedy won by one vote. Because we were a little bit older than this guy was, and the times were different. We had the League of Women Voters and what would be called a real liberal media at that time.

The issues brought up when Reagan got in office in 1980 and since, were completely different. The closest we got to discussing religion and the presidency in 1960 was when Kennedy assured the public, as Democrats always have, that they will follow the law of the land and not the Pope or something else. That changed with Reagan.

We can fault this guy, but he's a good witness in the long run, and could be a good chance to change the minds of people in the GOP. Very much like what I'm going to describe next.

One of the darlings of the religious right, Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer wrote a very popular book, A Christian Manifesto:

http://www.peopleforlife.org/francis.html

If you read this, and many evangelical churches gave the entire book to their members, you will see where they get their beliefs from. To fight these ideas you have to know their language. In any argument, railing does nothing but cause people to put up their defense shields because they are trying to protect their heart.

You must find the most humane, universally truth on why they are in error on some of this and your vision is larger. Schaeffer's son grew up around all the big evangelicals and he eventually decided that they were wrong.

He came out strongly for Obama in 2008 and maintained his support. Like the man in the OP, he had an epiphany. So some despise him now. A little bit about Schaeffer's namesake here:

Pro-Life — And In Favor Of Keeping Abortion Legal,by Frank Schaeffer

December 9, 2008

Frank Schaeffer's parents, Francis and Edith, were best-selling authors who were instrumental in linking the evangelical community with the anti-abortion movement.

But after coming of age as an evangelist and helping to organize religious fundamentalists politically, Schaeffer had a crisis of faith: Though he is pro-life, he decided that abortion should remain legal.

Shortly after the presidential election, Schaeffer wrote an open letter on the Huffington Post explaining his views and urging President-elect Barack Obama to support programs that provide care for pregnant women and reduce the number of abortions. In the letter, Schaeffer disassociated himself from his former politics, writing, "The pro-life cause poisoned many of us who were part of it. Me included. It led to self-righteous hubris that extended to a general attitude of hate toward the 'other.'"

Listen, download or read about this here:

http://www.npr.org/2008/12/09/97998654/pro-life-and-in-favor-of-keeping-abortion-legal

So I think this is a good thing happening in the OP, although it's aggravating, I know. What do you think, is any of that useful for us?