[Vision2020] "Why I'm joining the GOP, " Jeff Gillenkird (SF
Gate, 5/29/05
David M. Budge
dave at davebudge.com
Thu Jun 23 07:38:40 PDT 2005
That's funny. It's sounds like nonsense to me.
db
lfalen wrote:
>This sounds more applicable to Ayn Rand's Objectivism than to the Republicans to me.
>-----Original message-----
>From: Debbie Gray dgray at uidaho.edu
>Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:39:32 -0700
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] "Why I'm joining the GOP, " Jeff Gillenkird (SF Gate,
> 5/29/05
>
>
>
>>Why I'm joining the GOP Leaving the left for fun and profit -
>>Jeff Gillenkirk (from the SAN FRANCISCO GATE)
>>Sunday, May 29, 2005
>>
>>After a lifetime voting for and working for Democratic
>>candidates and independents, I'm finally going to make the
>>switch and become a Republican.
>>
>>The reasons are many, not the least of which is age. I turned 55
>>recently and, having lived more than half my life, I can't
>>afford to worry anymore about the other guy. It's time for me.
>>
>>As a Republican, I can now proudly -- indeed, defiantly --
>>pledge to never again vote for anyone who raises taxes for any
>>reason. To hell with roads, bridges, schools, police and fire
>>protection, Medicare, Social Security and regulation of the
>>airwaves.
>>
>>President Bush has promised to give me more tax cuts even though
>>our federal government owes trillions of dollars to its
>>creditors. But that's someone else's problem, not mine.
>>Republicans are about the here and now, and I'm here now.
>>
>>As a Republican, I can favor exploiting the environment for
>>everything she's got. No need to worry about quaint notions like
>>posterity and natural legacy. There are plenty of resources left
>>for everyone, and if we don't use them, someone else will.
>>
>>I want a party that doesn't worry about things before we have
>>to. Republicans refuse to get hog-tied by theories such as
>>global warming, ozone depletion, fished-out oceans and
>>disappearing wetlands. The real problems -- if there are any --
>>aren't forecast to take hold for at least 50 years. So what do I
>>care? I'll be dead.
>>
>>As a Republican, I can swagger and clamor for war -- in Iraq,
>>Afghanistan, Colombia, wherever -- even though I've never fought
>>in one or even been in the military. I can claim that we're
>>fighting for Democracy, ignoring reports of torture at Abu
>>Ghraib, Bagram Air Base and Guantanamo Bay, and a spreading
>>gulag of secret detention centers around the world.
>>
>>Freedom, as every American should know after spending $300
>>billion for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, isn't free.
>>
>>As a Republican, I can insist on strict moral values when it
>>comes to sex and ignore the growing moral chasms in business,
>>politics, sports, journalism and the leadership of the Roman
>>Catholic Church.
>>
>>A society that loses control of its sexual urges faces unwanted
>>pregnancies, socially transmitted disease, broken families.
>>Those overzealous about wealth, however, produce only a higher
>>GDP, lifelong security for their family and more minimum wage
>>jobs for the lower classes. What's wrong with that?
>>
>>As a Republican, I can favor strict punishment of criminals,
>>except for those who happen to be my friends or neighbors. Isn't
>>that the very definition of community -- looking out for friends
>>and family?
>>
>>I will be pro-death penalty and anti-abortion, pro-child but
>>anti-child care, for education but against funding of public
>>schools. As a Republican, I'll have a better chance of getting
>>to spout my opinions in the media, which for some reason seems
>>convinced that since Bush was re-elected with the smallest
>>electoral margin of any sitting president in history, liberals
>>are passe.
>>
>>As a Republican, I'll say goodbye to "old Jesus" and hello to
>>"new Jesus. " Sure Christ started out as a liberal Jew, and look
>>where that got him. Compassion, love and diatribes against the
>>rich only encourage the weak and punish the most successful
>>among us. The Jesus that Republicans worship is a muscular,
>>decisive, pro-war crusader hard at work cleansing the world of
>>evildoers, not, God forbid, turning the other cheek.
>>
>>My decision to become a Republican didn't come easily. For years
>>I clung to the idea that the foundation of a democratic society
>>was our implied social contract, each of us committing some
>>level of personal sacrifice to the common good of all.
>>
>>I regarded taxes as dues we pay for better roads and schools,
>>safe inspection of meat and dairy products, maintenance of parks
>>and protection of wilderness areas. I see now that looking out
>>for the common good resulted in shortchanging the most important
>>element in this formula -- me.
>>
>>Let Democrats continue promising the "greatest good for the
>>greatest number." Republicans clearly have my number -- No. 1.
>>
>>I'm sure a lot of my friends reading this will ask me, "How can
>>you sleep?" My answer will be, "Who's got time? I'm busy earning
>>money." While they're bellyaching about rising deficits, the
>>outsourcing of jobs and casualties in Iraq, I'll be marveling at
>>the march of freedom in the Middle East, upticks in the GDP and
>>the president's plan to link Social Security to the magic of the
>>marketplace.
>>
>>As a Republican, I simply won't listen to bad news anymore. Bad
>>news doesn't get me or my family anywhere. If you don't have
>>anything good to say about somebody, don't say anything at all --
>>
>>
>>unless it happens to be about a Democrat, of course.
>>
>>Jeff Gillenkirk was a speechwriter for former New York Gov.
>>Mario Cuomo. He lives in San Francisco. Contact us at
>>insight at sfchronicle.com.
>>
>>Page D - 2
>>URL:
>>
>>http://sfgate.com/cgi-
>>bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/200
>>5/05/29/INGJPCU3GL11.DTL
>>
>>©2005 San Francisco Chronicle
>>
>>
>>
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