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The Republicans stood for things. You could disagree or agree, but they stood for things. But all the things they stood for - and that helped get them elected - have been lost since they have been in power.
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I am not trashing them here, I think some of these programs might be good, I just don't understand how the Republican Party got to this point.
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They once stood for Small Government. Our government has grown HUGE. Not only have they not cut programs they have increased them dramatically. The Federal government put it's hands down into primary and secondary schools - traditionally a local issue - with it's "no child left behind" legislation.
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Fiscal Responsibility. Remember balanced budgets? Remember "tax and spend" liberals? I don't see the improvement of "no tax but more spend" conservatives. Our budget is in the toilet and our kids will have to clean it up. And while that might sound good right now, our kids might just vote to cut social security out altogether once they get enough votes.
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Privacy from government. The Bush administration has expanded it's power to spy on you, listen to your phone calls, look at your computer files and check your medical records to the point where you actually have almost no privacy. And if you bring it up, the response is that if you are a good citizen you shouldn't have anything to hide.
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Freedom from government intervention in your private life. At least in the Republican West (west of the Rockies all the way to the Pacific) one of the Republican tenants was that the government should stay out of people's business if it wasn't hurting anyone. The wide-spread voter approval of medical marijuana use in Republican states is a natural outgrowth of this type of "leave them alone" ethic. But the Bush Administration and Republicans in general have done a 180 on this. It's not just gay marriage, the Bush Administration has the FBI focussing on raids of pornography users and medical marijuana legitimate buyers groups run by cities. I think their time might be better spent on terrorism prevention.
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Nation Building. Hell during the 200 election George W went out of his way to say that the US shouldn't be in the business of Nation Building - because we aren't good at it. Afghanistan and Iraq would point out that he was right - but now Republicans say we have to stay in there until (well until they want I have never heard a description of "victory" in either place).
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So I really do wonder what the Republicans stand for now. I guess keeping gun laws safe - but that was made pretty moot by the supreme court - that right isn't going away. And against gays and abortion. Otherwise, not so much. The party of Bush and McCain and Palin isn't the party of Reagan anymore. They have become the anti-Democrat party now.
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I think that is why we are seeing such a shrill and content-free discussion now. All they have is that Obama isn't really like the rest of us. Either because he is black, or because he is educated or because of a whisper campaign that he is a terrorist or a Muslim.
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And I could give you a list of what I think the Democrats stand for now. The fact that in the debates most of the Democrats agreed on substance shows where they stand. You may not agree or like it, but you know what they stand for.
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Maybe all parties are ultimately ruined by success and need some time in the penalty box to pull it back together.