HIJACKED

The Republican Party has been hijacked. I was raised a Republican during the Eisenhower administration. It was Ike who warned us to beware of the “military industrial complex.” He was just one word short. He should have warned us about the religious military industrial complex.

The Republican Party I believed in was dedicated to small government, balanced or surplus budgets, protecting the Constitution of the United States and strengthening the middle class. The Republican Party today has abdicated all of those positions, and no abdication has been as devastating as that of handing over political power to the religious right.

It’s history now, but Mr. Bush declared the sanctity of life and called for court intervention after championing a law in Texas that would have put the courts in charge of the Schiavo decision because of the family’s conflict. What about the sanctity of over 1500 young Americans and countless Iraqis who at that time had lost their lives in a war waged on false premises? (Well over 3000 now.) Tom DeLay preached to us about the sanctity of life after having decided to pull the plug on his father and needing to deflect attention from his own ethical deficiencies. Both men plus most of their party members in Congress forced the Schiavo case into federal court in contradiction to constitutional law and then complained that the courts are corrupt because they did not find in their favor. Such hypocrisy.

And the most egregious act of all – the doctrine of pre-emptive warfare – a concept which, by the way, goes against our agreement with the United Nations and thus is illegal according to our own statutes. While shrilly proclaiming the U.S. to be a Christian nation, the Bush neo-cons have moved us from the long held position that we would go to war only as a last resort – we were slow even to enter World War II – to being rushed into a war that is now justified, not by any of the reasons originally given, but only by the fact that it succeeded in deposing a vile dictator who was no real threat. Would Christ have approved this war? Would Mohammed? Would the Buddha? Would you?

Time and time again, this neo-conservative, Christian Right, pseudo-Republican administration proves that it will tell us anything and do whatever it pleases. The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower and the party for which I used to vote would never have led us into this war, taken us from huge surpluses to bigger deficits, championed worldwide corporate rule, and sought to upset the Constitutional balance of power as this administration has done.

Sadly, the Democratic Party’s main strategy seems to be to imitate the Republicans. Both parties need to go back to their true roots, and someone must stand up for the common man. We, the people, need to follow the leadership of Thomas Jefferson and rebel against political power being wielded for personal gain. We have become a nation of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Only the wealthy can run for national office for either party. The level of corruption and the lack of understanding or concern for the needs of the common man now endemic in Washington, D.C. are unacceptable to anyone who can see beyond the thirty second television sound bite. Demand government of the people, by the people and for the people from both parties. Take back our hijacked political system, and for God sake get us out of the infighting in Iraq.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. – M.K. Gandhi
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. – Jimi Hendrix