When Did "Republican" Become a Dirty Word?

OK, first it was "death tribunals." Then our children were going to be brainwashed through subliminal, subversive, socialistic rhetoric cleverly disguised as a - gasp! - work-hard, stay-in-school, get-an-education message! Oh my God! Hide the women and children! Barricade your doors and windows! Those horrible socialist barbarians are at the gate!

Please, spare me the hysteria! When I was a kid, if the President of the United States (POTUS, to you old West Wing fans) announced he was going to go on television to talk directly to the nation's young people, both my parents (one a Democrat and one a Republican, by the way) and my teachers would have made it required viewing. No debate. "Son, the president wants to talk to you. Have a seat. Get comfortable. He needs about an hour of your time. Would you like a snack? Oh, and afterward, you'll be writing a 500-word essay on what you learned. Here's the thesaurus."

T-H-E P-R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T. Yeah, that one. Once again, what happened to simple respect? Respect for the man; respect for THE OFFICE? So, POTUS wants to say a few things to the kids. Since when did we develop the hubris to deny him that opportunity, regardless on which side of the idealogical aisle we reside? Damn it, he's the President of the United States, and it matters not whether you voted for him. He's OUR president and we should listen to what he has to say. You know, he is a rather bright guy.

I am sooooooooooooooo sick and tired of the bottom-feeding, pot-stirring, self-righteous, hate-mongering, fear-mongering, gun-toting, gay-bashing, egomaniacal, self-appointed right-wing, cloaked-in-the-flag (did I mention egomaniacal?), Limbaughs, Coulters, Hannitys, O'Reillys, et. al., taking advantage of an ignorant populace and a national platform to twist and spin information any possible way to discredit ANYONE who disagrees with them - and lying through their teeth throughout the process.

I'm a caucasion, balding, golf-loving, small-business owner; married (to the same beautiful woman for 27 years), proud father of three; a small-town child of the Midwest; a baby boomer. You know, the perfect poster child for the Republican Party. And guess what, I am, in fact, a registered Republican. I came of age during the Reagan years, entering the workforce with my fresh, crisp, newly-minted college diploma smack in the middle of the recession that followed the Carter presidency. Reaganomics, trickle-down, and down came the Berlin Wall. Free enterprise, baby! No new taxes! It's the economy, stupid! You bet your ass I was a Republican, and damn proud of it.

Then came Bush the Elder, Iraq the Prelude, Newt Gingrich, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Dubyah, John Ashcroft, Donny Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, Abu Ghraib, Sarah "I Can See Russia From My Porch" Palin, etc., etc., etc. A veritable non-stop rogues gallery of self-righteous (there's that word again), deceitful, dishonest and downright disgraceful poseurs who would have us believe they, and their Republican cronies were the enlightened ones. (Did I mention Tom "Dancing With the Stars" DeLay and Dick "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" Cheney?). Gosh, how could I be more proud of my Grand Ol' Party! Come on, you know waterboarding really isn't torture.

So, here I stand, essentially Republican only because that is what my voter registration card says. Disgusted, disenchanted, disappointed (and probably most other "dis-" words you can think of) asking, "When did Republican become a dirty word?" Don't worry, I don't plan to switch party affiliations anytime soon. And I certainly don't think the Democrats have all the answers, or the Libertarians, for that matter. I didn't have to become a Democrat to vote for Barack Obama. (I merely had to have a few neurons firing to know that was the right choice.) We make waaaayyyy too big a deal out of party affiliation these days. All the labels serve to do is polarize us at a time when we desperately need to find common ground.


Out-of-pocket medical bills never should have nearly bankrupted my family three years ago, thanks to the crappy insurance that was all I could afford as a self-employed small business owner. And coverage for my son's prescription for Allegra should not have been denied this week by Aetna because they think they know better than his pediatrician. So what are we (not the Republicans and not the Democrats, but WE) going to do about that? Our elected officials should somehow be mandated to work together to find solutions. POTUS can't do it by himself. Oh, and don't get me started on Afghanistan, and immigration, and Wall Street salaries, and Big Three bailouts, and off-shore drilling and . . .

. . . man, I Wish I Was Fishing!