An Open Letter to my Republican Friends

You had your chance. You blew it.

Despite the tongue in cheek title of this blog, I support the idea of a free market. I am prolife (although my definition of "prolife" is more inclusive than my Republican friends; I hold it to mean anti-war, antiabortion, anti death penalty, antipoverty), pro Second Amendment, and I believe in smaller government (via smarter government, but that's a whole other blog post right there). In short, I should be custom made for the Republican Party.

But I've had enough. I've had enough of the slander of our sitting President by rank-and-file Republicans, I've had enough of Republicans claiming to want smaller government while wanting to set a landmark by rewording the Constitution to deny rights to a certain group of citizens (a first), and enough of the hypocrisy of someone who won't vote for a candidate because he MIGHT be a Muslim (a charge he has consistently denied), but has no problem voting for a religion founded on the notion that all mainstream Christian faiths are of the devil.

And more to the point, I've had enough with the utter contempt shown to the working class. While denying they are doing so, virtually every one of the Republicans I have met supports a flat or a "fair" tax, effectively lobbying to lower taxes on the wealthy while raising them on the lower classes (falling in line with the well travelled myth that the working poor pay no taxes).

And I could go even further, but in the brevity will address as my final point in this rant the clear obstructionism of every bill put forward by Dems since the GOP gained enough power to obstruct. I cannot support people who are openly rooting for the failure of our President.

The true colors of the GOP shone brightly at this year's convention when they denied Ron Paul a chance even to speak. They broke their own rules to marginalize Paul, and did not eeven give delegates the voice they should have been promised in the process. And this wasn't about Paul, per se, but about his right to speak.

And Mitt Romney is by far the worst possible candidate you could have chosen. Granted, none of the candidates you proffered had any real chance of being carved in stone by future generations, but the rest of the pack was better than Romney by a long shot. This is a man who believes corporations are people, yet does not believe they bear the same tax responsibilities; who raids companies and guts them, outsourcing their jobs to other countries. Remember that giant sucking sound Ross Perot warned us about in 1992? It comes right out of Romney's office.

The consolation you have given me is to urge me to vote the lesser of two evils. You don't want that. Trust me, you don't. As a person who, for good reason, views the LDS church in the same way that a child who grew up in the Second Mile views Penn State, I cannot, I will not, vote for a priesthood holder in that church as a "lesser of two evils". Sorry, but the lesser of two evils vote would go to Obama.

If you lose this election, it will be because you failed to connect with the people who do not identify with your party. Your party faithful would vote Republican even if you put Adolf Hitler on the ticket, but independents aren't so inclined.

I still remain true to my core beliefs and vote the person, not the party. But the Republican Party continues to show itself unworthy of my vote. And unless that changes, they are unlikely to ever get my vote.