...or at least I should be.
I'm a white man, on the low side of the 30-44 age bracket, with very strong military ties. I'm not a movement conservative, but I don't consider myself to be a movement progressive or liberal either. I don't think government is always the problem, but I also don't think it's always the solution. I fall into the 44% of voters who classify themselves as moderates. Overall, I think my profile more closely matches that of a Republican voter than a Democratic one.
I usually, but not always, wind up voting for the Democrat.
If you're a Republican, and you want my vote in 2010, 2012, or later, what do you need to do to get me to vote your way? Everyone who considers themselves to be a Conservative or Republican pundit or strategist has thrown in their .02 on that topic already, but none of the guano tossed around by Rove, Kristol, et al. (otherwise known as the schmucks who got you into this mess) really strikes me as the sort of thing that would get me to change my vote.
So what would it take?
In the spirit of the basic conservative principle that the government that governs least governs best, let's start by looking at the things that the Republican Party should stop doing. And let's get the big one out of the way first:
STOP QUESTIONING OUR PATRIOTISM AND COMMITMENT TO AMERICA!!!
When you question the patriotism of a candidate that I am seriously considering voting for, you are implicitly questioning my own patriotism. When you refer to a party's position on an issue as "anti-American", you are implying that anyone who supports that position is "anti-American". When you talk about one part of the country as being the "real America", you are implying that the people who don't live there aren't really as American.
Believe it or not, some of us actually notice that kind of thing. We also notice it when you accuse anyone who disagrees with you in any substantive way of simultaneously being elitist and less of a "true American" than you are.
When you start ranting about how your opponent is not American enough, or that he's really a Marxist, or a Socialist, or that he's proposing something that's Nazi-like, it tells me a lot more about you than your opponent. When you resort to attacks like that, it tells me that you really don't have any substantive response to the proposals, so you're going to hope that screaming and yelling and waving your arms will distract us enough that we won't notice.
Some of us notice.
Barack Obama and John McCain convinced me to vote for Obama. But it took the combined efforts of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Robin Hayes to get me to get off my but and work my ass off as a volunteer.
Stop with the whole God, Guns, and Gays thing.
If you want me to believe that you're really in favor of a small government that doesn't intervene in people's lives, then you're going to need to show me that you're really in favor of a small government that doesn't intervene in people's lives. Telling us that the government should have the right to tell us what women can and can't do with their bodies, or what can and can't take place between consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedrooms doesn't get that job done.
Most people my age know at least one openly gay person. And most of us are fine with that. You might be able to get a little more mileage out of that whole thing, but younger voters are unlikely to oppose gay marriage.
At the very least, you should stop having people who have cheated - or are currently cheating - on their wives lecture us about the sanctity of marriage. It makes you look like idiots.
If you want to convince us that your economic policies are the right ones to move the country forward, talk about your economic policies. Don't tell us that your economic policies are the right ones, and we need to vote for you because otherwise the big bad gays will ruin the marriage.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: if you want my vote, stop treating me like a moron.
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Couldn't have said it better myself. Dunford 4 Prez!
"I guess what I'm trying to say is this: if you want my vote, stop treating me like a moron. "
But catering to the moron vote has done well for them, and they haven't got much to offer anyone else. Not that I'm a big fan of the Dems, either. Often seems like a choice between the spineless pandering weasels and the evil reptilians from outer space.
I'm an Independent, but I'm not a moderate. I'm a 100% partisan for material reality, honesty, reason, history, and human nature. If you give me a choice between a party that's 100% out of touch with reality, and a party that's 90% out of touch with reality, I'll go with the 90%. If you give me a party that's 100% dishonest and a party that's 90% dishonest, I'll still go with the 90%.
If the Republicans want my vote, here's what they need to do: 1) Ditch the ideology and embrace practical, working solutions to commonly agreed-upon problems. 2) Lie just a little bit less than the Democrats.
If a Republican wants to stand out and be 11% reality-based, and 11% honest, he's got my vote.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Ditch the ideology and embrace practical, working solutions to commonly agreed-upon problems
Hahahahaha.
HP @ #4:
1) Nice handle. Mine happens to be my real-life initials. I've been signing notes and comments with them for several decades. I assume you're a big Hewlett-Packard fan?
2) I take it by your sardonic laughter that you've grasped exactly the point I was making. In which case, I win.
Strange terminology you have in the USA.
I'd say what you describe is the basic liberal-ultraliberal-"libertarian" principle. The basic conservative principle is that the government that does the most to keep (conserve) things as they have been and as they ought to be governs best, no matter how much intervention (in your bedroom or elsewhere) that requires.
Of course, people with both of these mutually contradicting attitudes can be found in the Reptilian Party in large numbers. I think that's going to kill the party in 2012 when they nominate Failin'...
WHO THINKS AMERICAN'S ARE GULLIBLE--OR RESTATED DON'T BLAME THE REPUBLICANS
Did you know that the ACLU thinks Americans are so stupid that NORMAN THOMAS said Quote American's will never "knowingly" accept Socialism, but under "liberalism" they will accept every fragment of the Socialist, and will one day wake up in a Socialist nation and "wonder" how it all happened. unquote.
DID YOU KNOW that the ACLU--wants to usurp the US nation SOVEREIGNTY to have the USA be governed by UN or something OTHER than the WE THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE?
See for yourselves at the site call---Coalition to fight against the ACLU --people there is even litigation stuff on this item.
DID YOU KNOW--that the REPUBLICANS have said many times to them to stuff a sock in it because the soverignty of the US is not open for negotiation, or debate or infringment because this Nation is SOVEREIGN AND governed only by WE THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND OF THE PEOPLE.
DID YOU KNOW---that the ACLU doesn't think PARENTS are SMART enough to have a say in how their child should be educated and what they should be exposed to in SCHOOLS?
The ACLU has been going around to schools and telling kids they should NOT WANT to join the service or DEFEND their freedoms or their country etc. HOW did they get found out WE some kids have PARENTS whom belong to the COALITION TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ACLU and the kids told their parents.
DID YOU KNOW--that after this election THE COALITION TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ACLU won't be able to serve WE THE PEOPLE anymore because of lack of funding because most American's don't know that the ACLU hates, this nations freedoms and country and flag and constition and SOVERIGNTY?
DID YOU KNOW-- that now Obama with the ACLU wants to kick the REPUBLICANS OUT OF DEPT OF JUSTICE leaving this country at the mercy of the DEMOCRATS AND ACLU whom think AMERICANS ARE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO GOVERN THEMSELVES???
DID YOU KNOW- in 1966 for more than a 'few' years OBAMA received full Marxist funding and to the present has backing from Socialists.
DID YOU KNOW that when Ayers and obama were working in schools together what happened to the 60,000.00? They didn't teach children how to learn, instead they tried to radicalize the children?
Let's see now, the DEMOCRATS DON'T think American's are SMART enough to GOVERN themselvs preferring to make American's servants in their own Nation to someone else.
DEMOCRATS DON'T think American's should have a VOICE in how to raise their children and how they are educated.
DEMOCRATS DON'T think Americans should have the FREEDOM to speak up for themselves thru the right to petition thru lobbying.
DEMOCRATS DON'T think Americans should have the FREEDOM to lawfully bear Arms and to defend themselves or to defend OTHERS.
DEMOCRATS DON'T like our FLAG, OUR CONSTITION OR OUR ALLEGIENCE.
Now they want FULL CONTROL of our SECURITY and JUSTICE DEPT leaving Americans vulnerable.
People, Americans need to NOT leave WASH DC alone LEGALLY AND LEGISLATIVELY until everyone of our freedoms are iron clad protected.
What we need to investigate is how the DEMOCRATS can count on the USA continuing to be as "stupid as the ACLU THINKS AMEIRCANS ARE' so that the ACLU and DEMOCRATS can further their communistic/socialist/marxist agenda?
Prior to elections we had to file complaints thru the REPUBLICANS because sites didn't want to publish our comments because our comments are NOT PRO OBAMA. No one wanted the public to know the truth.
As of several days ago we again had to file complaint thru the JUSTICE DEPT for violation of our FREE SPEECH because sites don't want to publish our comments because our comments are NOT PRO OBAMA.
Feel free to cut paste and print and visit that web site called--THE COALITION TO FIGHT THE ACLU because once they lose funding they are closed AMERICAN's have no one to SPEAK for WE THE PEOPLE.
And SassyFrassy is a perfect example of why people should use Firefox with the killfile script for the Greasemonkey plugin.
*plonk*
My first reaction to #7 above was "Wow, how many bales did it take to make all those straw men?"
My second reaction was to look up that site but (dramatic pause) - it is going under and the domain www.stoptheaclu.org is up for sale. If this excerpt is typical then rational discourse was not on the menu:
Just, wow.
Betz, the excerpt is quite typical.
I know I'm a few days late to the party but....
SassyFrassy's rant @ #7 is the explanation for Mikes original post in a nutshell.
Mike - a thinking, Republican leaning moderate wants the Republican politico's to stop treating him like a moron. SassyFrassy - a bigoted, unthinking, lying cretin wants to shout down and stamp upon anyone who dosen't think exactly as he does.
Unfortunately there seem to be far more of the Sassy type around than the Mike type, so the Republicans will continue to pander to the lowest possible denominator - because it's worth more votes for them.
If I were a conspiracy buff I might be tempted to believe that their continual efforts to undermine the quality of education and news presentation in the USA is part of a long term plan to increase the size of that section of the voting population...