Fool's Paradise??
Keven,
I always find your posts so amusing. Your assumptions about my political and religious convictions are interesting given you don't know me on a personal level, and most likely, never will. If you took the time to listen to people, and embrace genuine differences, maybe your opinions/beliefs might be taken more to heart. Your insessant bashing of Republicans and Christians do nothing to help further honest debate amongst friends here in the washer club. All it does is alienate some of our more conservative/moderate club members who happen to share a mutual love of appliances. Many members have chosen to leave this club because of this. I have purposely layed low from posting on AW.org because I do not want to engage in inflammatory, political posturing. That is not fair to Robert, and it is not what I am about. I have gotten into political disagreements with people on this site, and what is sad is had I known some of these people personally, we would probably be good friends.
I was a die hard Democrat for many years, up until rather recently, to be honest. IMO, The Democratic Party uses the gay community over and over, promises the sun, moon, and stars, only to never deliver on most of their promises. If you choose to believe the Democratic party is the party for gay rights, you may want to investigate that further. Look at New York State, heavily Democratic, with a Democratic controlled legislature, and they don't even have the COURAGE to legalize/vote on same sex marriage! There was supposed to be a vote on marriage equality in the New York State Senate last week, but a minority of Democrats joined Republicans to block a vote on the bill. Among the Anti-Gay Democrats is New York State Senator, Rubén Díaz,( Google his name for more info) who explained that the reason he is working to prevent the marriage equality bill from coming up for a vote is that his "personal religion" tells him that same-sex marriage is wrong. This is precisely why I gave up on the Democrats. You would expect the majority of Republicans to vote against same sex marriage, but lately we are seeing more and more Democrats showing their true colors. Other than passing hate crimes legislation in Congress, what have the Democrats done to deliver on their promises to the Gay Community? A big, fat nothing! Now, I realize, people are saying, "Oh, Obama has only been President for one year, give him some time" Well, time is not on our side. Given the state of the economy, and rising unemployment, the Democrats WILL lose many seats in the 2010 midterms. It is likely the Democrats will not have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate next year. Any chance of seeing DOMA overturned, or "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, will be lost. Who are you going to blame for this? The Republicans?, The Christianists?
Not all Republicans are against us. Look at the conservative leaning, U.S. Supreme Court’s (Lawrence vs Texas),2003 decision that repealed sodomy laws nationwide, and civil rights in the 1960s. How about Theodore Olsen, Solicitor General under Former President Bush, who filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court to force federal recognition of same-sex marriage? He is currently fighting to get Prop 8 overturned in California. I refuse to allow the GOP to be highjacked by the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity. There are many moderate voices being silenced by the far right. Like it or not, we have 2 major political parties in the USA, sooner or later the GOP will have control of government again. Don't you think it is wise for moderates/liberals who identify as Republican to take the party back from the extremists??
Let's not turn this thread ugly. If you have a response to my post, feel free to email me privately.