Mar 04 2009
A response to the responses
I wanted to respond to a couple of the responses so far, so that people don’t think I am ignoring them. I also think this point is important enough to make its own post.
I am a Republican. I hold with Republican ideals.
The Presidents and other elected officials that claim to be Republican do not always act, or hold with, the same Republican ideals that I hold with. There are some Republican officials that place Republican social ideals over fiscal conservativism (Bush). There are other Republicans who place varying degrees of emphasis on conservative social ideas. There are also Republicans who are pro-choice (McCain).
Just because someone was elected as a Republican does not mean they are going to act as one when they are in office - Gov. Schwarzenegger is a classic example. If you look at his actions (enviornment, labor, education and social issues) you would think he was a Democrat except for the (R) after his name on the ballot.
I think one of the reasons Republicans are losing their support is because they don’t stick to their ideas. Fiscal conservativism is a hard push. But it is worth it.
As for spending issues - Republicans believe in a strong national defense, and that takes money. They believe in supporting our troops and providing for them when they are at war. However, they believe spending on social measures needs to be cut back. Republicans believe that people should provide for themselves, not government providing for people.
This is where the seemingly contradictory beliefs of Republicans on spending in Iraq and the stimulus package come into effect. The Iraq spending is for national defense and support of the troops - which Republicans believe is vital. The stimulus spending is to help people who made bad decisions - which Republicans do not believe in.
This message never comes across from Republicans and instead they appear to contradict themselves.
I hope this makes sense for those of you who are critiquing Bush’s spending practices and saying that because he was a Republican, Republicans don’t believe in fiscal conservativism. They do - Bush didn’t.
Also - please stop thinking that Republicans are white men. I am a woman. Make no mistakes about it - I am a Republican. The ideals the Republican party represents are not exclusive to men.
