A letter from a fellow Republican for Obama

Dear Chuck:

You have done a superb job of marketing the GOP’s power to change peoples’ hearts when responding to the change in our country’s present leadership. Your successful hospitality has been highly publicized throughout Indiana and all the way to The New York Times. Do not presume that good people who are Republicans are going to accept the lack of caring for our country’s people, the embarrassing downfall of our reputation internationally, a war waged for all the wrong reasons and an energy crisis that has no more time to resolve. I am a Republican for Obama and I am sharing my story with you, Indiana’s leader of Republicans for Obama.

I was born and raised in a Republican family. I believe that when times and values change, people do also. I am sure that there are many more Republicans for Obama than anyone realizes. Doctors feel part of the middle class today and many are voting Democratic for the first time because they believe Senator Obama’s vision for America must be implemented. I’m sure someone is working with them.

My adult Republican years included volunteering for Donald Bruce for Congress. That grew into my serving as a Wayne Township Precinct Committeeman and Vice Ward Chairman where we used to live. Everything was so important. There were Lincoln Day Dinners, picnics and every kind of occasion you can imagine to market GOP candidates at all levels. Barry Goldwater was the presidential candidate. No one said “presumptive” back then!

My first government job was in the secretarial pool in the House of Representatives. Governor (Dr.) Otis Bowen, from Marshall County Indiana asked me to handle his office when he was Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and then again when he was elected Speaker of the House. 

After winning the nomination and general election, the Governor and his staff become truly busy with planning the Inauguration, Inaugural Balls and other festivities. Governor Bowen was fortunate that he had served in the House of Representatives and knew from personal experience many effective, honorable men and women to fill his department head and senior staff rosters. I worked along with him and lead the effort to hire competent and loyal administrative staff members.

Governor Bowen began and continued for years a splendid service to the people of Indiana. During those years Republicans had a different approach for assisting people meet their legitimate needs than Democrats, but they never presumed the needs were not there and that government did not have an appropriate role in addressing them. Many times both parties worked together to effect significant assistance to Indiana’s citizens.

Watching the last seven years of President Bush’s administration, Republicans, Democrats and Independents have been appalled to watch and feel an environment of dishonesty, provisions favoring only the wealthy, an astonishing disregard for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, sending our young soldiers to an unjustified war in Iraq, no protection for mortgage holders or bank depositors, no interest in the safety of imported goods, the use of interrogation methods that do not follow the Geneva Convention and other egregious public behavior. Honest, decent Republicans have no place to go within their party to feel good about themselves and their country.

Senator Obama offers hope for all Americans that the economy and ethical reputation of the United States will be mightily improved. He offers hope that our people will once again participate in their government because they will be heard. He offers improved living standards, education and health care. He offers fairness in taxes and job opportunities. He will make sure that our brave soldiers will be treated with respect and any needed assistance when they come home. Obama offers an environment of honesty and pride which we are presently lacking. Many of us feel disappointed, unprotected and embarrassed about our own country…how incredibly sad that is. Wouldn’t it be truly important to our daily lives to feel excited about being an American?

This is not Democrat or Republican. It is a wish for a return to ethical and humane standards for Americans.

Viola Walker

(Thanks, Viola!!)

Taking the Republican Party back

I still consider myself a Republican. I believe in the founding principles of the Republican Party, and the modifications based on embracing of progress that have lead to a truly progressive Party up through President Eisenhower. Unfortunately, as the evangelical right wingers and corporate interests took over (see Crazy for God), the Party has become a neoconservative, almost fascist, Party.

So what are the Republican principles of which I speak?

• Fiscal responsibility (balanced budgets and no long term debts);
• Limited government;
• A commitment to, and defense of, the Constitution and Bill of Rights;
• Individual liberty with a respect for personal privacy and keeping government out of our personal lives;
• Rule of law, with no American above the law, especially our elected representatives and their appointments;
• Low taxes for everyone based on conservative stewardship and minimal spending;
• A strong national defense, with a reluctance to enter into foreign entanglements;
• A planned, proactive foreign policy that promotes friendship and cooperation, plus full engagement with our enemies;
• Responsible stewardship of our national natural resources through environmental awareness;
• Free enterprise, with a focus on protecting small business from monopolies, ologopolies, and unfair competition from large corporations;
• States' rights over federal consolidation of power;
• Maintenance of balance of power for all three branches of government;
  

President Eisenhower said it best:

“As we peer into society’s future, [we] must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”

- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

There are many Republicans fighting to bring the party back to its roots, but so far we're failing. The future of the fight is based in diversity, cooperation (fighting for what we agree on instead of against each other on what we don't agree on), coordination, and outright punishment of the current leadership through our votes. Here are some sites that show how this movement is taking shape:

Republican Leadership Council

Hip Hop Republicans

Why I'm Backing Obama

RepublicansForObama.org (not affiliated with Obama campaign)

One of the founders of the religious right and author of Crazy for God mentioned above, Frank Schaeffer's blog

Finally, the Obama campaign has recognized our disaffection by the Republican Party leadership, and has embraced us with their centrist platform that actually better represents our principles at this time.

Obama Campaign Republicans for Obama Page

If you are a Republican that also feels the Party has moved away from your principles, please read more of my posts on this blog and consider a crossover vote for Obama in this presidential election. And help us fight to return the Republican Party to it's founding principles so we can again support a true Republican for president.

Read This Now! Sarah Palin: It's The Abortion Debate Stupid

Many Republicans know who Frank Schaeffer is. For those who don't, he's the son of Francis Schaeffer, the evangelical Christian author of wildly popular and influential Christian apologetic books "Escape from Reason" and "The God Who Is There." A best selling author in his own right, Frank wrote one of my favorite books, "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back."

The selection of Sarah Palin as Republican VP candidate has brought to the fore the pro-life/pro-choice debate once again. Thirty five years after Roe versus Wade, and 4 pro-life presidents who have done nothing, pro-lifers still think their selection of president should be based on this one issue at the exclusion of all others.

Mr. Schaeffer has an excellent article that we all need to read. It's longer than a quickie post, but it's the beginning of a conversation we MUST have. Please read it, comment on it, Digg it, pass it along, and converse.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/sarah-palin-its-the-abort_b_123896.html

10 Things I Wonder Regarding God, Obama, McCain and Pumas

1. Is Focus on the Family Out of the Will of God?

They asked their members to pray for rain at the Denver Democratic Convention. It was sunny the entire time. Is this an indicator that Focus on the Family is outside the Will of God, or is this God's endorsement of Barack Obama?

2. Is John McCain Unpatriotic?

I searched Google Images for an image of John McCain with a flag pin. Twenty five pages later, not a single picture with a flag pin! So I went to his site's photo album. Still no flag pin! Is he unpatriotic? Does he hate the flag?

3. John McCain, POW?

With John McCain's pro-war rhetoric, war in Iraq, war in Iran, war in Afghanistan, war in Georgia, war in Poland, does POW stand for Politics of War?

4. Drill Here Drill Now?

What does John McCain mean when he says to "drill here drill now?" Does he mean the spot he's standing on, and does he want them to start right away? Why aren't they drilling in all those spots yet?

5. Is McCain ready to lead? You sure?

The Republicans talk a lot about experience. John McCain has been only one of a hundred Washington Senators for 26 years. He's never been President or even a Governor, so he hasn't been a leader of anything. What experience does he have that prepares him to lead our nation? Lobbyist relations experience?

6. He earned it? Really?

Mitt Romney said John McCain "earned" his 7 mansions, his wealth. But I can't find anything in McCain's biography that shows he's held a high-paying job or started a company or succeeded in financial investing to earn his wealth. Does Romney consider McCain's marriage to wealthy heiress Cindy McCain a job? If it is a job, is it only legal in Nevada?

7. Is a PUMA an ugly Cougar?

There are supposedly Hillary supporters who are now supporting McCain. Some of them have organized and named their group after a shoe company. Didn't they trust Hillary's judgment? If so, is her judgment now bad when she says, "Barack Obama is my candidate?" Seriously, did they support Hillary for Hillary, or because she has the same kind of body parts they do?

8. McCain chooses.... who?

McCain chose Alaska Governor Palin as his VP choice. She's three years younger than Obama. Her "career" includes being a mother, PTA membership, city council member and then mayor of a city of 8,000 residents, then governor of Alaska, population 670,000 (about the same as Charlotte, NC), for a year and a half, about long enough, apparently, to get embroiled in a corruption probe. She shoots and eats moose, she's fighting protection for polar bears, she's admitted to using federally illegal marijuana while an adult but wants to put you in jail if YOU use it, and her husband works for BP, a foreign oil company. I don't even have to come up with a clever joke here, the facts are funny enough.

9. Is Palin qualified to be VP?

Sarah Palin apparently has some Vice President level experience. She was 1st runner up, number 2, second in line, first loser, for Miss Alaska in 1984. I'm not sure what the duties were for the Miss Alaska runner up, but a week ago Palin said she doesn't know what the US Vice President does everyday, so I assume the duties were very different. Will she talk about this experience in her debate with Joe Biden?

10. Palin supports home schooling, does that including schooling McCain in computers?

McCain says he's computer "illiterate," and that he looks at a few blogs with the help of his daughter and wife. In the greatest technological era in history, maybe he chose Palin as his running mate because she knows how to use the Internet and a Blackberry. Was she chosen to be the Presidential Secretary?

Bonus! The Republicans and their ground breaking VP choice! It's a first, right?

The Republicans are excited about their "glass ceiling shattering" choice of a woman for Vice President. However, the Democrats had a female VP candidate in 1984 (remember Ferraro?). Just like the McCain campaign to be 25 years behind the Democrats. What next, one of them Internets sites on that new Information Superhighway?

My New Republicans for Obama Newsletter

I've created my first Republicans for Obama newsletter and sent it out today. If you have not signed up, there's a signup form on the right.

Every email has an unsubscribe link in case I start boring you.

Click here to see the newsletter in your browser.

Enjoy!

Excellent interview on Hardball

Two representatives of Obama for America's Republicans for Obama program joined Chris Matthews on Hardball. They make some of the best points yet made for Republicans to consider Obama for President:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25956441#26300609

Watch it. Bookmark it. Spread it around.

Barack Obama and Health care – a Republican Perspective

The Republican idea that health care shall remain private, untouched by the government, and that people should all figure out ways to get their own health care was developed when the vast majority of Americans had employer-based health insurance, and health care costs were a fraction of what they are now. To continue this policy flies in the face of reality, as the number of uninsured Americans reaches over 47 million, and the majority of the insured have been seeing huge reductions in their benefits while their premiums rise 4 times faster than wages. The system needs to be fixed.

Senator Obama's “universal health care plan,” a term demonized by Republicans under President Clinton, is not a handout, nor does it replace current private health care plans. For the majority of Americans, nothing will change except lower premiums and better coverage under their current plans. However, Obama's plan will stop the disgusting methods of insurance companies of cutting off care for high-cost patients, denying health care for “preexisting conditions” that keep profits high by pushing those patients into public funding, and giving ridiculously inflated prices to continue in a group plan after losing a job. The Obama plan is simply a very large group plan – the same plan government employees enjoy – available to every American, with subsidies for the very poor. The government does not become the insurer, so it's not socialized medicine like Canada, nor do you have to worry about “going to the doctor will be like going to the license branch.”

As a Republican, I do wish there was a way to fix the system without another entitlement program. But the Republicans simply ignore the issue, and even encourage insurance company immoral behavior, so Obama's plan is the only practical plan available.