Rare political post
Aug. 6th, 2004 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01I usually try to restrict my posts here to fluffy fandom things, but I feel compelled to do this. I'm angry. I'm disillusioned. And I'm really motivated to do anything I can to get W out of the White House.
I know there are people on my f-list who are Republicans, and who support Bush. If you like, you can skip the stuff behind the cut. ;-)
I was raised as a Republican. I was also raised as a Southern Baptist, and I think part of my issue with the Republican party is its alignment with the religious right.
I'm an atheist, but I'm pretty quiet about it. In general, I don't like it when anyone pushes their religion in my face, and most people don't, to be fair. One of my best friends is a minister, so I don't have a problem with people being religious. I think my big problem with the religious right is their assumption that it's perfectly fine for an entire country's laws to be based on their religion's holy book. I'm tired of being forced to pray at public functions (including the state Democratic convention, where I was a delegate), and I'm sick of the continued attempts to oppress people who are gay, bisexual, or transgendered. I'm pro-choice, I support gay rights, and am deeply offended that anyone would use the Bible to justify discrimination against any group of people in the form of controlling their bodies. (I know many Christians who agree with that sentiment, of course.)
I also have major issues with the war in Iraq, and Bush's horrid ignorance of the world outside our borders. It makes me sick to my stomach that my government has kept hundreds of people locked up in an internment camp in Cuba for two years, without charging them for any crimes or allowing them any defense. Geneva Convention? What Geneva Convention? It doesn't apply to us, you know. (And I don't count this latest attempt to satisfy a Supreme Court ruling, thank you very much. That's a farce, IMO.) It's un-American, and if any other country in the world did that, we'd probably invade them. We're holding these people based on what, our intelligence? The same intelligence that told us there were WMDs in Iraq? Yeah, I trust them.
Another part of my reluctance to support Republicans comes from my up-bringing, again. I grew up in the south, and many of my family members are Republicans because they see the Democratic party as belonging to African Americans and other minority groups they view with suspicion. In my family, being a Republican is definitely associated with being racist. I realize that represents a small minority of Republicans, but I can't separate my family's small-mindedness and racism from the issues they talk about. For example, they're against welfare and other public aid because of the stereotype of an unemployed black woman with eight children getting a monthly check. Telling them that welfare accounts for a miniscule portion of the budget in comparison to social security doesn't seem to make a difference. None of them have ever been on welfare. Those people are just lazy, they say. This is America, after all. The land of opportunity! You just have to work hard enough!
Of course, my own stories about working with battered women and teaching in gang-infested urban schools don't garner any sympathy for people who don't have the same opportunities as middle class folks. My family doesn't have any concept of the playing field not being level, because they won't even drive on that side of town for fear of being mugged. They just believe the stereotypes, and don't bother thinking for themselves.
I'm a big supporter of many causes the Democratic party traditionally champions, even though I disagree on free trade. (I think globalization is inevitable, and we'd best find a way to deal with it.) I'm all for tax cuts, as long as they go to the middle classes, where the people are actually likely to spend the money and contribute to the economy. (I'm a little tired watching people get trickled down on.) And as long as children don't go without free lunches or after-school programs as a result, or firefighters don't lose their health care, or senior citizens don't lose their access to medication. I'm more than willing to pay my share of taxes to help people who need it. I don't like my money going to support an invasion of a country based on a lie, so I totally understand where they're coming from. I just think they're wrong! ;-)
So I'm not a Republican for all of those reasons, and I hate W for others I won't bother detailing here. Mostly, I'm tired of being ashamed of the actions of my country. I really want to fly the flag outside my house again without feeling like I'm a hypocrite.
So that was more than you wanted to know, I'm sure! I do wonder about slashers who are Republicans, though. I mean, this president just tried to amend the Constitution to discriminate against gay people! How do you reconcile the anti-gay and anti-"porn" rhetoric of the party with participating in an internet community that embraces gay rights, women's rights, and free speech?
I really want to know, so please comment here. I'd love to have a thoughtful and reasonable discussion of this topic.
I know there are people on my f-list who are Republicans, and who support Bush. If you like, you can skip the stuff behind the cut. ;-)
I was raised as a Republican. I was also raised as a Southern Baptist, and I think part of my issue with the Republican party is its alignment with the religious right.
I'm an atheist, but I'm pretty quiet about it. In general, I don't like it when anyone pushes their religion in my face, and most people don't, to be fair. One of my best friends is a minister, so I don't have a problem with people being religious. I think my big problem with the religious right is their assumption that it's perfectly fine for an entire country's laws to be based on their religion's holy book. I'm tired of being forced to pray at public functions (including the state Democratic convention, where I was a delegate), and I'm sick of the continued attempts to oppress people who are gay, bisexual, or transgendered. I'm pro-choice, I support gay rights, and am deeply offended that anyone would use the Bible to justify discrimination against any group of people in the form of controlling their bodies. (I know many Christians who agree with that sentiment, of course.)
I also have major issues with the war in Iraq, and Bush's horrid ignorance of the world outside our borders. It makes me sick to my stomach that my government has kept hundreds of people locked up in an internment camp in Cuba for two years, without charging them for any crimes or allowing them any defense. Geneva Convention? What Geneva Convention? It doesn't apply to us, you know. (And I don't count this latest attempt to satisfy a Supreme Court ruling, thank you very much. That's a farce, IMO.) It's un-American, and if any other country in the world did that, we'd probably invade them. We're holding these people based on what, our intelligence? The same intelligence that told us there were WMDs in Iraq? Yeah, I trust them.
Another part of my reluctance to support Republicans comes from my up-bringing, again. I grew up in the south, and many of my family members are Republicans because they see the Democratic party as belonging to African Americans and other minority groups they view with suspicion. In my family, being a Republican is definitely associated with being racist. I realize that represents a small minority of Republicans, but I can't separate my family's small-mindedness and racism from the issues they talk about. For example, they're against welfare and other public aid because of the stereotype of an unemployed black woman with eight children getting a monthly check. Telling them that welfare accounts for a miniscule portion of the budget in comparison to social security doesn't seem to make a difference. None of them have ever been on welfare. Those people are just lazy, they say. This is America, after all. The land of opportunity! You just have to work hard enough!
Of course, my own stories about working with battered women and teaching in gang-infested urban schools don't garner any sympathy for people who don't have the same opportunities as middle class folks. My family doesn't have any concept of the playing field not being level, because they won't even drive on that side of town for fear of being mugged. They just believe the stereotypes, and don't bother thinking for themselves.
I'm a big supporter of many causes the Democratic party traditionally champions, even though I disagree on free trade. (I think globalization is inevitable, and we'd best find a way to deal with it.) I'm all for tax cuts, as long as they go to the middle classes, where the people are actually likely to spend the money and contribute to the economy. (I'm a little tired watching people get trickled down on.) And as long as children don't go without free lunches or after-school programs as a result, or firefighters don't lose their health care, or senior citizens don't lose their access to medication. I'm more than willing to pay my share of taxes to help people who need it. I don't like my money going to support an invasion of a country based on a lie, so I totally understand where they're coming from. I just think they're wrong! ;-)
So I'm not a Republican for all of those reasons, and I hate W for others I won't bother detailing here. Mostly, I'm tired of being ashamed of the actions of my country. I really want to fly the flag outside my house again without feeling like I'm a hypocrite.
So that was more than you wanted to know, I'm sure! I do wonder about slashers who are Republicans, though. I mean, this president just tried to amend the Constitution to discriminate against gay people! How do you reconcile the anti-gay and anti-"porn" rhetoric of the party with participating in an internet community that embraces gay rights, women's rights, and free speech?
I really want to know, so please comment here. I'd love to have a thoughtful and reasonable discussion of this topic.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-07 06:28 am (UTC)Clearly that played differently where you live than it did where I live! After Natalie made her comment about being ashamed Bush was from Texas, it was all over the local news here, and the same was true where my parents live. There were tons of interviews with citizens who were shocked and horrified, and radio stations were saying they wouldn't play their music anymore. The local variety show had a Dixie Chicks segment that they promptly dropped. People my husband works with told him they thought Natalie et al should be arrested for treason, and compared them to Jane Fonda. And when the DC came on tour and did a show here, there were protests and demonstrations. The local news stations were down at the arena interviewing people on both sides.
Go ahead and ridicule me if you like, but here's the thing: It was bizarre, and revolting, and it shook me because that could have been me. There was this feeling here at the time that if you liked the DC, you were aligning yourselves with the terrorists. I'm not exaggerating; people really said that. And all the group had done was publicly express their opinion about the president.
Was this a loud minority, or was it the majority? It was difficult to tell, because all the media showed us was the people who were vilifying the DC. People who supported them or agreed with them did it very quietly. It isn't like that anymore, thankfully, but there was a brief period of time in this country where people who did not agree with the administration's actions were told to "love it or leave it", in no uncertain terms. It isn't so much like that now, but I refuse to brush aside such intimidation tactics.
Yes, people can boycott whomever they choose! Yes, people can say what they like! Do you seriously think I'm advocating restricting speech? *rolls eyes* Then you haven't been reading what I've been saying at all.
My point in using this example was not that the DC were censored in any way. The government did nothing to them, personally. What did happen was that they were made into evil terrorist-sympathizers by a bunch of small-minded people. Someone wanted a scapegoat, and they were convenient. The media jumped all over it, and it became an example of what would happen to celebrities who stuck their noses into politics. Other artists have since come forward and expressed criticism of the Bush administration and the war, and it's not the same now as it was at that point in time. I completely believe it was the atmosphere of suspicion and fear and mistrust created by the Bush administration that caused people to react that way.
And I still get riled up about it, because I still hear people making snide remarks about them, still equating them with terrorists. Yes, celebrities should take responsibility for what they say and be prepared to face the consequences. The Beatles learned that the hard way too. But there was an atmosphere surrounding that incident that I'm not going to soon forget. It was the first time I was afraid to express my opinion to people, in my life.
I absolutely agree with you that the government should have as little power over individual liberties as possible. Oddly, republicans say they believe this as well, and then try to legislate what people can and can't do with their bodies. That's a completely different issue, though.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-07 07:03 am (UTC)Yeah, it did -- I live in Seattle, where it's so rare to see a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker that it attracts notice. Where peace rallies on many street corners are a weekly event, and when people who are anti-abortion stand on street corners, they get booed and honked at angrily. It didn't even really cause a burp in the local news, and if I hadn't heard about it over LiveJournal, I probably wouldn't have heard about it at all. I had no idea any of that happened regarding the Dixie Chicks, and where I live, there has never been any kind of "love it or leave it" sentiment -- the LiveJournal attitude of "Bush is a demon and anyone who likes him is a stupid fucking moron" is exactly the sentiment that is publicly expressed in Seattle. I would be far more afraid to say "Bush isn't so bad" than to say "I agree with the Dixie Chicks" here, not that I'm afraid to say either one.
On the other hand, do you remember Rick Santorum? The guy who went on about how gay marriage was equatable to incest or pedophilia? He was vilified here. People thought he was the next antichrist -- only not exactly, because no one in Seattle is religious. Maybe 30% of people go to church here, if that. You know how one of the questions you get in small talk that follows up "what do you do for a living?" is "where do you go to church?" I've lived in Seattle for four years, and no one has ever asked me that. I've never been asked to pray at a public event. It simply isn't expected that you have a religion at all, and it is considered nobody's business.
Seattle also has a very high minority population -- many, many Indians (as in people from India) live here because of the technology industry, there are of course a large number of hispanics, and there's a huge Asian population. (On the other hand, I've heard black people refer to Seattle as one of the whitest cities ever because there's not much of a black population here, oddly.) One out of ten couples here, if not more, is multiracial -- I've seen the 10% statistic in the local paper, but honestly, judging by what I see on the street, it's a lot more than that. Gay people can kiss on street corners. So yeah, where I live is very different from where you live.
Yes, people can boycott whomever they choose! Yes, people can say what they like! Do you seriously think I'm advocating restricting speech? *rolls eyes* Then you haven't been reading what I've been saying at all.
Here's the thing: I do think Democrats are just as likely to want to restrict speech as Republicans. They just want to restrict different kinds of speech. Many Democrats want to make "hate speech" illegal, or punishable by heavy fines. Many Democrats want to make "hate crimes" more strongly punishable than just plain "crimes". I think hate crimes are revolting, yes, but I do not want to live in a society where you get three life sentences instead of two because of what you were thinking at the time you committed a violent crime. I don't want to live in that society because the minute government can decide which thoughts are desirable, they can legislate any thoughts. The minute government can decide which thoughts are "harmful", any thoughts can be branded harmful.
Oddly, republicans say they believe this as well, and then try to legislate what people can and can't do with their bodies.
So do Democrats. Every single abortion bill and every single gay rights bill has had advocates on both sides -- and Democrats, by the way, are the ones I usually hear advocating smoking bans, which in my opinion (and I don't even smoke!) is a major blow to what people can and can't do with their bodies. You don't want to inhale smoke? Go to a nonsmoking restaurant -- with or without regulation, there are tons of them. How about seatbelt laws for cars, or motorcycle helmet laws? Democrats again. This is not something that can be pointed at and restricted to one political party. There are libertarians who don't believe in abortion, too.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-07 01:07 pm (UTC)It's hard for me to comprehend it being any other way. Texas is the worst of all the places I've lived in that the Republican party here seems to believe it holds a monopoly on "family values" (or "Texas values" -- not sure what those are, but I bet I wouldn't like them). The word "liberal" is a brand put on even moderate political candidates, and candidates actually boast that they're the most conservative in the race. (Seriously, the political signs say things like "Conservative Texas Values". *shudder*)
It's not that I think Democrats are any better than Republicans when it comes to allowing free speech or other things; it's that all of my life experience has been that *I* am the one who is derided, or ignored, or attacked for believing differently than the majority. It's a bit mind-boggling to think that there exist places where people on the left hold that "tyranny of the majority" over people on the right. With the exception of faculty meetings at the university I work at, I've never experienced it any place I've ever lived.
Democrats, by the way, are the ones I usually hear advocating smoking bans, which in my opinion (and I don't even smoke!) is a major blow to what people can and can't do with their bodies.
Opening another can of worms here, I know, but I actually support smoking bans in public places. My grandfather died of lung cancer, and I'd rather not be subjected to anymore secondhand smoke in my lifetime, thanks. I don't like the government telling me what I can do with my body in the privacy of my home, or the privacy of my doctor's office. But if something someone else is doing is harming me, I feel like I shouldn't have to tolerate it.
Whole other issue, though. You're right that there are people on both sides of every issue in every party. I'm always fascinated by people's reasons for choosing one party over another, when in some regards, the parties aren't so very different. That, in a nutshell, was what my post was about in the first place.