 |
||
|
 |
Letters to the EditorSubject: hey Well, it is apparent that you are somewhat intelligent. Congratulations! Although I am a democrat myself, I still found the jokes funny. I am not a religious person, as many democrats aren't, however, my only problem with republicans is that they (obviously generalized of course) don't seem to follow a founding principle in the Constitution, the separation of church and state. Religion is a handle for the poor and ignorant to justify themselves and their actions. My only belief is science; far more people have benefited from "science" than from religion, primarily Christianity that may as well be mythological. And the only basis for defense of this is "faith". Not that I am completely one-sided against religion. I must agree that religion keeps a universal order among people, although for selfish reasons, because they fear damnation to hell, being lowered in caste, etc... Although it is claimed that the real reason is the love of their god, they all have the same fear of their real motivations for doing "good". Anyway, I have already put too much. You still have my respect for your site.. some funny stuff.. Hi, I am not going to make fun of your email. It was well thought out and represents a valid point of view. I don't agree with it but that's OK. I also strongly disagree with your statement that most Democrats are not religious. Where I live, most people are Democrats and most are strongly Christian. This nation is mostly Christian and even with the change in the nation's makeup of White's becoming a minority to Hispanics and Blacks within the next 30 years, these groups are very religious and predominately Christian so this nation is very likely to remain Christian. I am trained in the hard sciences and in philosophy. A strange combination these days but not at all strange from a historical point of view. There is no real division between science and Christianity. There are morality issues but then these exist within science itself and in society in general. I will point out that all social organizations are selfish, including political parties and religious organizations. You are not saying anything new or even nasty with that statement. Every living thing, including organizations, want to grow and survive. The burning issue is where to draw the moral line and that line is different for every single person. You should also not make the mistake of stereotyping Republicans as the Christian Right. Republicans belong to every religion. The Christian Right became a major force in the Republican party when it lost its traditional support from Black Americans. Remember that the Republican party was founded to free the slaves and was mostly northern. The Democratic party was the predominate party and was primarily southern and pro slavery. President Lincoln was the first Republican President. This changed during the 1960's and the Johnson presidency. President Johnson was a great man but was very partisan and was successful in moving the Black vote as a block to the Democrats. This created a power vacuum in the Republican party which was filled by the Christian Right. The Christian Right seriously damaged its ability to steer the Republican party in the early 1990's and the party is now being run mostly by moderates. Unfortunately, Republicans no longer have any burning issues. The standard Republican issues of financial stability through reduced taxes and government just don't get most people excited. Read reduced government as more freedom for individuals and financial stability is a high tide that floats all boats. By the way, the reduced tax idea belonged to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It was proven by him, President Reagan and by many others. I have no idea why people don't get excited about freedom but they don't. I think it is because we have become a rich and somewhat spoiled people. Everyone is just used to having freedoms and can't imagine not having them. Unfortunately, that is a well greased road to loss of freedoms. Given all this, why do people vote Republican? It is mostly because today's Democratic Party is basically Marxist. They believe in the power of big government and centralized control. This is the Marxist view and like the Marxists, they still have a burning fire in the gut. The Republican party lost its fire and at least for now is mostly leaderless. This does not reduce its message of personal freedom and economic stability through reduced taxes. In addition, some taxes like the death tax which hurts predominately the poor and the marriage tax which hurt predominately the lower middle class are immoral. The Republican party wants to eliminate these taxes while the Democrats want to keep them. Think long and hard about these two taxes and issues like gun ownership. It does not matter what you think about the politically charged issues of personal gun ownership, think about who these issues give power to. You will see that Republicans trust the individual while the Democrats trust only a government run by themselves. That is why people still vote Republican even without any burning issues to unite them. Now for the mandatory joke. What do you call three Democrats in a Volks Wagon? Far from thinking! The Editor |