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October 16, 2008 10:04 AM UTC

The GOP Needs To Be Born-Again

  • 58 Comments
  • by: sufimarie

(This should be an interesting topic-have at it! – promoted by Haners)

From Capitalism Magazine:


…in large part Republicans have beaten themselves by pushing a faith-based agenda of banning abortion and stem-cell research, discriminating against homosexuals, and directing welfare dollars to religious groups. They have subverted the law to religious doctrine and weakened the wall between church and state.

With the induction of the religious right into the party, the GOP sealed its demise. By pandering to the zealots, their policies have become a recipe for disaster. It used to be that the GOP held a live and let live (but not in my back yard)- type mentality. Now they have to stomach their constituent’s laughs when they try to mix the soundbytes of “anti-choice” with “less government interference”.

There is no common ground between the “sanctity of marriage” and de-regulation. Fiscal conservativism has nothing to do with renouncing evolution. Free-markets dont equate to banning sex-education in schools.

I almost feel bad when the many well educated people who identify themselves as Republican entrepreneurs are ashamed when they cast their vote for someone who claims evolution is just a theory.

I think its time the religious right repent and spend all of their money on fighting for elections where they will have more of a voice. I call on all the whackos who protest abortion clinics to spend that energy on something useful and logical: go fight for proportionate representation or something.

Maybe the GOP can get born again and forgiven???

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58 thoughts on “The GOP Needs To Be Born-Again”

  1. to be forgiven by you.  Forgive yourself.

    I agree with much of what you say, and I posted my own similar thoughts yesterday.

    However, respecting people’s religious beliefs will always be part of a Republican platform.  Fobbing then off onto others will not.

    I expect this election to be a bad one for the GOP, but where we differ is this:

    Getting rid of the old guard of the GOP will make the GOP much stronger than before.

    1. On numbers.

      Blowout = Republican Party gets retooled into something substantially different than what its been for the last 28 years.

      Closer than expected = Maybe some changes, but get ready for the midterms!

      Close = Try their best to impeach Obama, and then it’s Palin/Romney ’12! 🙂

      1. As far as you believe.

        Is it any business of yours what someone else’s religious beliefs are as long as they don’t force it on you?

        Hint: No.

        Again, go plant your own seeds and let the Republicans worry about how they want to rebuild their own party.  

        1. the only thing the church has ever done is force things on people. People don’t naturally believe in what they church touts (except for the golden rule– religiously ignored by most Christianists). Fear is their tool of force.

          They fight for everyone to live they way they think everyone should live. Christianism is the limiting case of force.  

                  1. Who is the “Religious Right”?

                    Anyone who considers themselves a Christian that happens to vote for a Republican?

                    Who is the “religious left”, then?

          2. yet on the same afternoon use wide-sweeping stereotypes to sweep up all Christians?

            Barack Obama attends “the church” (which I presume means all churches).

            There’s a difference between having a “big tent” and being accepting of people and simply stereotyping and disregarding people based on faith instead of race, gender, sexual orientation etc.

            The statement “the only thing that [fill in group you don’t like] has ever done is [fill in negative quality you don’t like]” is just as bad regardless of how you fill in the blanks.

            1. if you haven’t yet come to understand just how unholy the activist Catholic and Protestant churches have become and always been. Or have you?

              To clarify, I think there is a difference between an individual who attends church and someone who does what the church tells them to do in the voting booths, even when in clear defiance of the teaching of Jesus which, is of course, very plainly, very simply, very logically, compassion.

              I do see what you are saying and I apologize. It is no good to stereotype people but I think it is of ultimate importance to question the authority structure of a philosophy that is so bizarre, radical, outdated and now married to (the antithesis of Jesus) the free-market.

              I mean, srsly

              1. I’m just wary of viewing any group of people as unholy drones simply because I don’t agree with them.  I think its human nature to see people we are comfortable with as vibrant, if flawed, individuals and people we aren’t comfortable with as a teeming horde of evil.  But the truth almost never works out that way.

                1. with them because they are self-identified unholy drones?

                  There are many people (such as in the link to Blumenthal’s piece) who are proud to shirk their responsibilities and claim they are the vessels of the will of god.

                  And what about the ones who are willing to die for a cause.

                  Check out what Eduardo said last night. Its like he is a suicide bomber in the making.  

                  1. And I don’t think people who manipulate others belief in God for private gain should be public leaders.  But that group makes up a very small percentage of Christians, which is why I suggest painting with a relatively narrow brush.

                    1. You love and respect your elders at least in as much as you choose to not get into heavy debates with them when they look at GWB on the teevee and state,”I know he is doing the Lord’s work.”

                      You go to church and like the social atmosphere where you talk about the weather and space out during pulpit poundings.

                      You laugh at commercials.

                      You shop at wal-mart.

                      You vote for McCain because somewhere along the way you heard “that one” is a terrorist.

                      If you fit this constellation of unconscious oddities, you are a lame-oid.

                      Be proud of it, or else you wouldn’t be a lame-oid. 🙂

                    2. Really?  You’re Sufi, sufimarie?  I understand that is a rather rigorous path regarding long study with a teacher.

                      Or did you just adopt that moniker out of trendiness or snark?  Because I don’t recall that Sufism encourages adherents to make wide-ranging generalizations about people of other religions.

                      I’m not a Christian myself, but I don’t think it’s productive to throw around terms like “Christianism” that are meant purely to inflame.  To be perfectly clear, I also find terms like “scientism” to be unproductive.

                      But perhaps I just don’t understand the nuances of Sufi thought.

                    6. snarksnarksnarksnarksnark

                      Just like every person ever on the interwebs who has started a discussion about religion, you have little of interest to say on the subject.

                      Now, get back to 4chan or wherever it is you come from.

                      Oh, wait, Square State.  I’ll have to ask Aaron about you sometime.  Maybe he will tell me why I should care about what you write, since it’s certainly not obvious from reading it.

                    7. and so far off base, then why do you continue to engage? I have no idea who front-paged this but the discussion has been going on for 40 hours now. Obviously someone with more *ahem, backend power than you thinks that what is happening in the GOP and religion is worthy of discussion in this forum and guess what, IT IS. This topic is very near, if not the root of the reason why Republicans are getting their ass handed to em.

                      As far as I can tell, the only things that keep Republican’ recruitment going are bible belt ignorance, a dying habitually driven philosophy that harkens back to the Good ol’ Days, racism, selfish greed, small-mindedness, and an overall fear of “the other”.

                      Yeah, its fine if you wanna live with your head up your ass, America fully and deep throatedly supports that, but I’m about  snark because you and your aging ilk don’t seem like the types who would be open to having a real conversation about politics with someone like me. Its been my experience that you just don’t fucking get it.

                      Not only that, I can guess that a lot of people out there think that my quips are apropos.

                      The level of discourse is what you make it, Grampy so get the fuck out of the kitchen and chill.

                      If you disagree or have something to say about it, then great! I welcome your conceded ammunition. But it seems like all you can do is threaten nebulously immature personal attacks.  

                    8. Apologies if anything I said came across as too personal; further research has lead to the conclusion that you are actually friends with Aaron.  When I wrote that comment, I only knew you posted at SquareState.  But I really don’t think that the type of discussion you are engaged in here is all that fruitful.  Sure, the Republican party has been using religion as a recruiting tool for decades now.  I read “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” 4 years ago, and that’s a book that actually looks at the people who are the targets of disingenuous Republican religiosity with a measure of, dare I say it, compassion.  It doesn’t hurt that I grew up in the same part of Kansas as the author (although a few years later).

                      But to lob bombs at the very people who are being exploited by the Republican leadership, as you seem to like to do, does not, in fact, raise the level of discourse.  If there is one thing I have learned in my ancient 39 years, it is that compassion is almost always a better starting point than invective.  Coming up with a list of qualities of a lame-oid is, well, lame (sorry ;).

                      I suppose I posted here initially because I find that every freaking blog I read has to be infected with one of these tiresome discussions of religion.  Nothing new is being said, and the quips were old when I first heard them 20 years ago.  It’s sort of like when a Libertarian shows up in a thread.  You know that all meaningful discussion has ceased.

                    9. I suppose I posted here initially because I find that every freaking blog I read has to be infected with one of these tiresome discussions of religion.

                      … and I would rather that people find something better to talk about (or at least with a bit more understanding).

                    10. which is why I bring it up.

                      Venting some stupid shit in a forum where we take ourselves way too seriously can be exhilarating and its why we keep coming back. The urge to open to exchange and self-expression in a market of ideas is important and for it to happen, its important to feel safe.

                      Dumb shit is written on this blog and I run with that more than I should. I look forward to lively threads with like-minded people and too often they veer into an unrecognizable direction and off into oblivion.

                      Whatever.

                      Here is where I get worried:

                      Its really uncomfortable feeling like someone is busy googling clues about me then posting vague threats with their finds as they discover them. The procession of events here has pried open my sleepy eyes a bit more to my heart-breaking naivete and its sickening. You really triggered something that is of alternating superficiality in my awareness as an outspoken woman and that is that when I open my mouth, I have to watch my fucking ass. Even to those who may somewhat be a comrade, it is not something to be taken lightly. People have tense reactions in tense times. Let’s please try to not be a victim of history.

                      I’m not accusing you of being a whack-job. If we think it might be there, we all look into the history of someone who pushes our buttons. I worry more because its what I have learned to do, esp when emotions run high. I feel scared that I could antagonize someone to the point where they might try to take some other action against me. I didn’t think I was doing that but looking back on the topic, I see why my calling the dominant paradigm of the reigning pandemics “freaky” and “sick” would make some waves, even if you aren’t a psycho Christian.

                      It gives me an incurable curiosity to call it out even more.

                      I spoke to Aaron and he told me a little about you.

                      He had nothing but good things to say.

                      I’m sure I will run into you sometime.

                    11. if you found out that aaron is my friend. It doesn’t make any difference.

                      Your paying credence to it is mystifying.

    3. once they get rid of the entire base of it.

      Looking forward to seeing the new libertarian focus of the party, with a libertarian emphasis on social issues, and a libertarian attitude toward spending restraint, possibly with a libertarian approach to foreign policy as well.

      Who knows, they might even be as successful as the Libertarian Party.

  2. Even if the social conservatives are corralled I still think the conservative party is fractured.

    Fiscal–Small government paygo vs. supply sider deficits.

    foriegn policy–Neocon v. Isolationist v. Realist

    Domestic policy–libertarians v. security firsters

    I am not saying the Democrats don’t have divisions, but we have lived with them and have argued about them since the 60’s so we are understand theat our party is not monolithic.

    Personally, if the GOP evolved towards a Paygo/Realist/libertarian party I would consider voting for them at times (I have voted for those kind of Rs in the past).  I like a bigger government than the small gov conservatives want (I just believe government is better at delivering some services than the private sector), but paygo is very important to me.

    1. to nearly the degree the GOP has come to do. Not to say Dems make no demands but the key is degree.  

      McCain couldn’t have Lieberman or Ridge because they’re pro-choice. Period.  The end.   Meantime,  anti-choice Dems were successfully elected with their party’s support all over the heartland in 2006 including right here.

      They have set in stone litmus test issues to a far greater degree and that is why their fall could be as dramatic as their rise.

  3. Of course, millions of Republicans are both, but splitting into two Republican parties won’t get much done.  Sure there’s no necessary intellectual link between the two, but on the other hand there’s no necessary link between the hands-off socially but hands-on financially approach of the Democratic party.

    The problem is, there just aren’t that many de-regulating free market advocates out there to form a working majority.  Anywhere.  That branch of the party can supply the money, but not the foot soldiers.  Historically, president Kerry would have really appreciated your approach had it been adopted 5 years ago.

    Maybe you’re right and the “whackos” as you call them need to be ostracized, but, on the other hand, I’m not sure too many people are receptive to deregulation advocates casting judgment from atop the high horse at this moment in history.

    1. I see spending money on programs and a hands-off social policy as being related because they help more people. Its part of the big tent aspect in that we even let poor people in and we don’t care how they orgasm.

      And you make my point that neo-liberals aren’t a majority but they are so immoral that they are willing to pander to the Christians prophesies about the end times.

      hmmm…

      Now that I think of it, there is a symbiotic relationship between religious freaks and neo-liberal free marketeers: their policies are complimentary in that they both end in Armageddon.  

      1.   Christian fundamentalists share common themes with orthodox Jewish fundamentalists and Islamic fundamentalists (the ultra-religious kind, not the terrorist kind) in this respect:  I see all as a reaction to modernism, an attempt to turn back the clock on globalization and Westernization of traditional cultural norms (particarly empowerment and independence of women).

         Laissez faire capitalists are also trying to turn back the clock in the sense of return to the robber barons, before the rise of popular-driven reform and regulation at the turn of the 20th cenury.

         Neo-con national security types also attempt to seize this moment of transcendant US power to establish an empire of global military and economic hegemony–that is to stop/turn back the clock to circumstances favoring US advantage.

          In my opinion the core challenge facing Repubs is the recognition that the world is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-polar.  No one group gets to call the shots for the rest anymore.  

          For all their faults, the Democratic Party by its nature has had to deal with this idea and that is why they (and more specifically, Barack Obama) are better suited to help the country thru the post-Cold War transition and into the globalized era.  

         

        2. freeze frame their world into something manageable. Whether they adhere to a strictly fundamentalist brand of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or whatever they have more in common with one another than they do with  with those with less rigid views.  

          I believe that they are more fearful by nature than most, whether because of their circumstances, such as being poor and vulnerable in violent surroundings or due to personality issues, and cope by sticking to very strict magical thinking formulas they hope will protect them.  They often become self-loathing because they can’t live up to the rigid standards they impose on themselves and blame it on the forces of evil, mainly the rest of us.

          Fine with me as long as they don’t seek to impose their fear and self-loathing on  others by taking control of governments and forcing everyone to conform to their self imposed rules.

          1. Oh, internet experts, is there no social problem you cannot diagnose?  No pathology of “the other” that you cannot identify?

            No, I say, no there is not!

            Cheers for your brilliant insights!  Huzzah, for you and you alone are the only clear-headed ones amongst a pack of the unenlightened!  The tubes of the world-wide webulator glow with the aura of your wisdom!  Words fail me… I must rest before I am overcome.

            2. The problem of making stupid mistakes remains unsolved for this “expert”, GeoGreg. It should be “orthodox”.  But I have no illusions about solving problems.  Simply noting why I have a problem with frightened childish types who insist others live by the same magical beliefs they embrace.  I believe our constitution is supposed to guarantee that your right to your magical beliefs does not include the right to impose them on anyone else which is what fundamentalists of all stripes seem to be about.  

              1. I have a problem with the way you throw around phrases like “frightened childish types” as if you have some sort of insight into the personalities of “fundamentalists” (aka “the other”).

                Yes, there are some “fundamentalists” who propose odious policies that they wish to impose on the rest of us.  But there are also “fundamentalists” who would like nothing better that to be left alone in their homes and churches to practice their odd form of religion.  Oddly enough, Baptists were historically some of the most staunch defenders of the separation of church and state, as they felt persecuted by the established churches.

                We all have our coping mechanisms; to imply that others are “frightened” and “childish” because they don’t conform to your worldview is frankly bigoted.  I have all sorts of criticisms of fundamentalism, but I don’t find making pop-psychological diagnoses of people to be either accurate or useful.

                NB: I didn’t notice your spelling error until you pointed it out.

        3. A breakdown of wealth in 1929 and 2008 is almost identical.  

          Ditto union membership.  (Union membership in Canada and Europe is the same as it was 40 years ago. Hey, aren’t they subject to the same globalization and other excuses for diminished American union membership, too?)

  4. The Republican Party needs to die to be born again, if you really want to quote scripture.  And remember that according to the King James version of the bible, Jesus threw the “politicians” out of the temple.  As a devout Christian, I can tell you the following.

    I used to be the Chair of the Republican party in the largest voting county in the state.  The current problems with the Republican Party cannot be “solved.”  The party must die.  And I believe that it will, just not in my lifetime (I’m 53).  Many like me have already left the party.  Others just refuse to vote Republican.  The only few of the “real Republicans” left are old and God-willing will pass to heaven before me.

    Once this force is gone from the party, I will become more and more like the “patriots” as represented by Sarah Palin and her views which are nowhere close to the mainstream of conservative or regular voters.  The so-called economic conservatives are fed-up and most of them are social libertarians.  Yet, they are called RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only).  

    Well, if you know anything about Rhinos, they are fierce and will gore any opponent to death.  That’s what’s going to happen sooner or later.  

    I have many, many friends who continue to fight this battle and I admire them greatly.  They truly have a special place in heaven.  I have chosen a different route.  While I occasionally vote for Republicans, especially with long-time friends that I respect greatly, I vote mostly for Democrats, not because I like their policies but exactly because I believe the Republican Party as we know it today must die before a new party will rise and become the party of Goldwater that I loved so much and struggled for for so many years.

    I would never question your faith as I would ask that you not question mine.  I would question your biblical “interpretations.”  There is nothing in the Bible about abortion, unless you want to interpret.  Alas, if you believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then interpretaions aren’t allowed.  As a matter of fact, read Genesis in the King James version which clearly states that God breathed the breath of life into Adam and then gave him a soul.  Please tell me how you interpret away from that?There is nothing in the Bible about churches (as contrasted with Church members who feel a calling to be involved in politics) being involved in politics.  Remember, render unto Ceaser what is Ceasar’s?  

    Frankly, the involvement of Churches in politics, in my view, is nothing short of a plot by the devil to divide the Church and to divert the Church from its two only goals which is to save souls and care for the needy.  And, it’s working.

    So, I say to you two things.  Repent. The Republican Party must die before it can be raised again.

  5. First off, I dislike the phrase “born again.” I think we were all born fine the first time.

    As to the Republican party, it will evolve over the next 10 years and become a national force again. Look at the Democratic party in the early 60s where a large part was Southern segragationists – and that is now totally gone from our party.

    The Republican party went down a dead end first welcoming the segragationists for short term gain (and long term defeat) and then turned much over to their wingnuts (religious & libertarian), again for short term success (and long term defeat).

    Who knows exactly where the party will return to. It is not going to revert to the previous system, times change. But it will find a somewhat consistent set of fundamental principles that will appeal to a large chunk of the country.

    But it may take 10 or 20 years.

  6. ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in Columbus, OH, today at 10:00 a.m. EDT:

    Thank you. The hectic but repetitive routine of presidential campaigns often seems to consist entirely of back and forth charges between candidates, punctuated by photo ops, debates and the occasional policy speech, followed by another barrage of accusations and counter accusations, formulated into the soundbites preferred by cable news producers. It is a little hypocritical for candidates or reporters to criticize these deficiencies. They are our creation. Campaigns and the media collaborated as architects of the modern presidential campaign, and we deserve equal blame for the regret we feel from time to time over its less than inspirational features.

    Voters, however, even in this revolutionary communications age, with its 24 hour news cycle, can be forgiven their uncertainty about what the candidates actually hope to achieve if they have the extraordinary privilege of being elected President of the United States. We spend too little time and offer too few specifics on that most important of questions. We make promises, of course, about what kind of policies we would pursue in office. But they often are obscured, mischaracterized and forgotten in the heat and fog of political battle.

    Next January, the political leadership of the United States will change significantly. It is important that the candidates who seek to lead the country after the Bush Administration define their objectives and what they plan to achieve not with vague language but with clarity.

    So, what I want to do today is take a little time to describe what I would hope to have achieved at the end of my first term as President. I cannot guarantee I will have achieved these things. I am presumptuous enough to think I would be a good President, but not so much that I believe I can govern by command. Should I forget that, Congress will, of course, hasten to remind me. The following are conditions I intend to achieve. And toward that end, I will focus all the powers of the office; every skill and strength I possess; and seize every opportunity to work with members of Congress who put the national interest ahead of partisanship, and any country in the world that shares our hopes for a more peaceful and prosperous world.

    By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.

    The threat from a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced but not eliminated. U.S. and NATO forces remain there to help finish the job, and continue operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. The Government of Pakistan has cooperated with the U.S. in successfully adapting the counterinsurgency tactics that worked so well in Iraq and Afghanistan to its lawless tribal areas where al Qaeda fighters are based. The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants. There is no longer any place in the world al Qaeda can consider a safe haven. Increased cooperation between the United States and its allies in the concerted use of military, diplomatic, and economic power and reforms in the intelligence capabilities of the United States has disrupted terrorist networks and exposed plots around the world. There still has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001.

    The United States and its allies have made great progress in advancing nuclear security. Concerted action by the great democracies of the world has persuaded a reluctant Russia and China to cooperate in pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and North Korea to discontinue its own. The single greatest threat facing the West — the prospect of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists — has been vastly diminished.

    The size of the Army and Marine Corps has been significantly increased, and are now better equipped and trained to defend us. Long overdue reforms to the way we acquire weapons programs, including fixed price contracts, have created sufficient savings to pay for a larger military. A substantial increase in veterans educational benefits and improvements in their health care has aided recruitment and retention. The strain on the National Guard and reserve forces has been relieved.

    After efforts to pressure the Government in Sudan over Darfur failed again in the U.N. Security Council, the United States, acting in concert with a newly formed League of Democracies, applied stiff diplomatic and economic pressure that caused the government of Sudan to agree to a multinational peacekeeping force, with NATO countries providing logistical and air support, to stop the genocide that had made a mockery of the world’s repeated declaration that we would “never again” tolerant such inhumanity. Encouraged by the success, the League is now occupied with using the economic power and prestige of its member states to end other gross abuses of human rights such as the despicable crime of human trafficking.

    The United States has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and Americans again have confidence in their economic future. A reduction in the corporate tax rate from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading partners; the low rate on capital gains; allowing business to deduct in a single year investments in equipment and technology, while eliminating tax loopholes and ending corporate welfare, have spurred innovation and productivity, and encouraged companies to keep their operations and jobs in the United States. The Alternate Minimum Tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. Doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth.

    Congress has just passed by a single up or down vote a tax reform proposal that offers Americans a choice of continuing to file under the rules of the current complicated and burdensome tax code or use a new, simpler, fairer and flatter tax, with two rates and a generous deduction. Millions of taxpayers are expected to file under the flat tax, and save billions in the cost of preparing their returns.

    After exercising my veto several times in my first year in office, Congress has not sent me an appropriations bill containing earmarks for the last three years. A top to bottom review of every federal bureaucracy has yielded great reductions in government spending by identifying programs that serve no important purpose; and instigating far reaching reforms of procurement and operating policies that have for too long extravagantly wasted money for no better purpose than to increase federal payrolls.

    New free trade agreements have been ratified and led to substantial increases in both exports and imports. The resulting growth in prosperity in countries from South America to Asia to Africa has greatly strengthened America’s security and the global progress of our political ideals. U.S. tariffs on agricultural imports have been eliminated and unneeded farm subsidies are being phased out. The world food crisis has ended, inflation is low, and the quality of life not only in our country, but in some of the most impoverished countries around the world is much improved.

    Americans, who through no fault of their own, lost jobs in the global economy they once believed were theirs for life, are assisted by reformed unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. Older workers who accept lower paying jobs while they acquire new skills are provided assistance to make up a good part of the income they have lost. Community colleges and technical schools all over the country have developed worker retraining programs suited to the specific economic opportunities available in their communities and are helping millions of workers who have lost a job that won’t come back find a new one that won’t go away.

    Public education in the United States is much improved thanks to the competition provided by charter and private schools; the increase of quality teachers through incentives like merit pay and terrific programs that attract to the classroom enthusiastic and innovative teachers from many disciplines, like Teach for America and Troops to Teachers. Educational software and online teaching programs endorsed by qualified non profits are much more widely in use, bringing to the smallest classrooms in America some of the greatest math, English, and science teachers in the country. This revolution in teaching methods has especially benefited rural America. Test scores and graduation rates are rising everywhere in the country.

    Health care has become more accessible to more Americans than at any other time in history. Reforms of the insurance market; putting the choice of health care into the hands of American families rather than exclusively with the government or employers; walk in clinics as alternatives to emergency room care; paying for outcome in the treatment of disease rather than individual procedures; and competition in the prescription drug market have begun to wring out the runaway inflation once endemic in our health care system. More small businesses offer their employees health plans. Schools have greatly improved their emphasis on physical education and nutritional content of meals offered in school cafeterias. Obesity rates among the young and the disease they engender are stabilized and beginning to decline. The federal government and states have cooperated in establishing backstop insurance pools that provide coverage to people hard pressed to find insurance elsewhere because of pre-existing illness.

    The reduction in the growth of health care costs has begun to relieve some of the pressure on Medicare; encouraging Congress to act in a bipartisan way to extend its solvency for twenty-five years without increasing taxes and raising premiums only for upper income seniors. Their success encouraged a group of congressional leaders from both parties to work with my administration to fix Social Security as well, without reducing benefits to those near retirement. The reforms include some form of personal retirement accounts in safe and reliable index funds, such as have been available to government employees since their retirement plans were made solvent a quarter century ago.

    The United States is well on the way to independence from foreign sources of oil; progress that has not only begun to alleviate the environmental threat posed from climate change, but has greatly improved our security as well. A cap and trade system has been implemented, spurring great innovation in the development of green technologies and alternative energy sources. Clean coal technology has advanced considerably with federal assistance. Construction has begun on twenty new nuclear reactors thanks to improved incentives and a streamlined regulatory process.

    Scores of judges have been confirmed to the federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, who understand that they were not sent there to write our laws but to enforce them and make sure they are consistent with the Constitution. They are judges of exceptional character and quality, who enforce and do not make laws, and who respect the values of the people whose rights, laws and property they are sworn to defend.

    Border state governors have certified and the American people recognize that after tremendous improvements to border security infrastructure and increases in the border patrol, and vigorous prosecution of companies that employ illegal aliens, our southern border is now secure. Illegal immigrants who broke our laws after they came here have been arrested and deported. Illegal immigration has been finally brought under control, and the American people accepted the practical necessity to institute a temporary worker program and deal humanely with the millions of immigrants who have been in this country illegally.

    Voluntary national service has grown in popularity in part because of the educational benefits used as incentives, as well as frequent appeals from the bully pulpit of the White House, but mostly because the young Americans, no less than earlier generations, understand that true happiness is much greater than the pursuit of pleasure, and can only be found by serving causes greater than self-interest. Scores of accomplished private sector leaders have joined the ranks of my administration for a dollar a year and have instituted some of the most innovative reforms of government programs ever known, often in partnership with willing private sector partners. A sense of community, a kinship of ideals, has invigorated public service again.

    This is the progress I want us to achieve during my presidency. These are the changes I am running for President to make. I want to leave office knowing that America is safer, freer, and wealthier than when I was elected; that more Americans have more opportunities to pursue their dreams than at any other time in our history; that the world has become less threatening to our interests and more hospitable to our values; and that America has again, as she always has, chosen not to hide from history but to make history.

    I am well aware I cannot make any of these changes alone. The powers of the presidency are rightly checked by the other branches of government, and I will not attempt to acquire powers our founders saw fit to grant Congress. I will exercise my veto if I believe legislation passed by Congress is not in the nation’s best interests, but I will not subvert the purpose of legislation I have signed by making statements that indicate I will enforce only the parts of it I like. I will respect the responsibilities the Constitution and the American people have granted Congress, and will, as I often have in the past, work with anyone of either party to get things done for our country.

    For too long, now, Washington has been consumed by a hyper-partisanship that treats every serious challenge facing us as an opportunity to trade insults; disparage each other’s motives; and fight about the next election. For all the problems we face, if you ask Americans what frustrates them most about Washington, they will tell you they don’t think we’re capable of serving the public interest before our personal and partisan ambitions; that we fight for ourselves and not for them. Americans are sick of it, and they have every right to be. They are sick of the politics of selfishness, stalemate and delay. They despair when every election — no matter who wins — always seems to produce four more years of unkept promises and a government that is just a battleground for the next election. Their patience is at an end for politicians who value ambition over principle, and for partisanship that is less a contest of ide as than an uncivil brawl over the spoils of power. They want to change not only the policies and institutions that have failed the American people, but the political culture that produced them. They want to move this country forward and stake our claim on this century as we did in the last. And they want their government to care more about them than preserving the privileges of the powerful.

    There are serious issues at stake in this election, and serious differences between the candidates. And we will argue about them, as we should. But it should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other. That is how most Americans treat each other. And it is how they want the people they elect to office to treat each other.

    If I am elected President, I will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. I will listen to any idea that is offered in good faith and intended to help solve our problems, not make them worse. I will seek the counsel of members of Congress from both parties in forming government policy before I ask them to support it. I will ask Democrats to serve in my administration. My administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. I will hold weekly press conferences. I will regularly brief the American people on the progress our policies have made and the setbacks we have encountered. When we make errors, I will confess them readily, and explain what we intend to do to correct them. I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons.

    We cannot again leave our problems for another unluckier generation of Americans to fix after they have become even harder to solve. I’m not interested in partisanship that serves no other purpose than to gain a temporary advantage over our opponents. This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end. We belong to different parties, not different countries. We are rivals for the same power. But we are also compatriots. We are fellow Americans, and that shared distinction means more to me than any other association. I intend to prove myself worthy of the office; of our country; and of your respect. I won’t judge myself by how many elections I’ve won. I won’t spend one hour of my presidency worrying more about my re-election than keeping my promises to the American people. There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I’m elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. The era of problem solving will begin. I promise you, from the day I am sworn into office until the last hour of my presidency, I will work with anyone, of either party, to make this country safe, prosperous and proud. And I won’t care who gets the credit.

    Thank you.

    2. for bringing the cheeselog out before the holidays. As you can see, its very old.



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      And stop piggy-backing on my brilliant post! Get your own shit promoted! You didn’t even write this and I sure as hell am not going to read it. Just link and you won’t look like such a cheezlog.

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