As a minister, I try to rise above party politics and to speak instead of universal human rights. I do not identify as a Democrat because I consider both parties to be embedded in the problems of predatory capitalism and empire. Followers of this blog know I criticize Obama when I think he’s wrong, which is often.
But I have a problem in my attempts to be non-partisan. Republicans continue a full-out assault on everything I care about as a human being. Yesterday, the GOP unleashed a party platform that cobbles together the kinds of ignorant pettiness I disliked as a child growing up in a Republican culture, and have grown to hate more every day I have lived on the planet.
While some of us are still grieving recent shootings across our nation, the GOP is calling for unlimited bullet clips for guns. At at time when religious intolerance seems to be growing, the GOP wants to wants to force displays of the Ten Commandments into the public sphere. (Because we all know, if there’s one thing that will save America, it’s more plaques). The GOP which so eagerly appealed to states rights to deny same-gender marriage, now wants to deprive states of the right to allow them. (Because we all know if my marriage isn’t working it’s because of what somebody else is doing). The GOP wants to combat illegal immigration without ending the corporate exploitation of other nations in our hemisphere that caused the problem in the first place.
The subtitle for the platform is “We believe in America,” which is the kind of vacuus self worshipping verbage that makes my skin crawl. They lift up symbols like the flag cut while cutting benefits for veterans. They speak of life and deprive people of health care. They claim a sacred right of ownership of guns, and deny that same right to women over their own bodies. I continue to believe we should transcend partisan politics, but I do not know how anyone can ignore these assaults on human rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/us/politics/republican-platform-takes-turn-to-right.html?_r=1