Republicanophobia

I admit I hate Republicans with a passion. I have an unhealthy urge to key cars with “W'04” stickers (which I never did, tempted as I might have), puke when I see a Republican on TV (even pretend ones, like Alan Alda), cry when I hear anti (insert any or all of the following here: abortion, gay marriage, stem-cell research, cloning) rants from fellow Catholics. My prejudice is not about race, religion, or sexual orientation – it’s about political affiliation. I cannot understand, even if I tried, how anyone, especially anyone who claims to be a Christian, can support the GOP. Sadly enough, I’m sure the feeling from the other side of the fence is mutual. But I am working on it - on acceptance - which incidentally, is one of the things that separates me from Repigs.

In my view, the GOP represents everything the Gospels do not: social irresponsibility, intolerance, hatred, death. No, not LIFE, you abortion-fighting, death-penalty-supporting, war mongering hypocrite, but DEATH. If Jesus came to us today, I’m pretty sure He would be a Democrat. Let’s see: He’d support helping the poor (social programs), distributing the wealth (fair taxation), accepting the outsiders (gays and lesbians), and nurturing life from conception to its end (anti abortion and death penalty). He would be against charlatans who profess their “faith” in public only to look down on sinners (the Bible belt crowd), hypocrites who are ever so ready to condemn without acknowledging their own sinfulness (super-conservative Catholics), politicians who use God as an excuse for their own miserable action (no need to expound here).

Last night, I caught a glimpse of Sen. Simpson (R-WY) at Larry King saying: "And the passion of the day. What in the world? We're going to start from scratch, Barbara (Boxer, D-CA), and we're not going to go back and pick scabs and see who's -- if people hate Cheney and hate Bush and hate Rummy, forget it. We're going to move on from here as intelligent Americans from both parties. That's where I'm headed."

And I sat there, dumbfounded, that a senior Senator would say something SO STUPID. No, Sen. Simpson, as an intelligent American, I refuse to move on! I want accountability for the mess we are in! I want whoever is responsible to stand up and take responsibility! There are no free passes! That’s what Democracy is all about: that no matter how “important” you might think you are, you are NOT above retribution.

So you see, my dislike of the Republicans is not exactly unfounded or pathological. But in the end, I don’t know which is worse: those who are running this country to the ground, or those who have the power to stop it but didn’t.

(If I had to guess, I would put Delia in the Republican corner. But then again, she hasn't lived in the US for a while, maybe she has been "cleansed" of any GOP germs. And even if she were, we'd still love her anyway...)

Keywords: Delia Gallagher