This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Hi Elwood, >I feel the same way about President Bush as Sarah does about Kerry. = Does that mean I'm unpatiotic? Why would it mean that? I don't understand. You are correct that it is patriotic for you to speak out, even though I = don't agree with your point of view, and take issue with many points of = your history over the past 4 years. I'll credit you with being better = informed with Larry, who apparently didn't hear about the huge STOCK = MARKET CRASH that wiped out a large chunk of my investment portfolio. I = bet even Fox News covered that one! Frankly, I'd like to get past this "label" debate. Perhaps I'm simply = getting kinda queazy speaking Republicanese. To put this into = perspective, the United Parcel Service (UPS) has a trademark on the = color brown. (No, I'm not kidding, and it's a sore temptation to talk = about trademark infringements by bulls here -- at least when they're not = consuming green grass.) Similarly, the Republican party thinks it has = trademarks on the terms "patriot," "conservative," "American," "family," = and "values." It has laid claim to those terms and has contorted them = until they've lost all meaning. I hate that! I believe all those terms = apply to *me*, a fiscally conservative, socially liberal, American = patriot who values her family greatly, but I cannot in good conscience = support most of what the Republican party is about. Over the past 25 years or so, the Republican and Democratic parties have = changed direction. Republicans are now socially regressive, not = socially conservative. To be socially conservative would be to preserve = the status quo, but now the party is trying to dismantle the provisions = of our Constitution that our founders felt were so important -- = regressive, IMO. The Democrats, on the other hand, have a long history = of being socially progressive (a.k.a. liberal), trying to expand civil = rights, but now they are trying to maintain the status quo (i.e. = conservative). Some are have even joined Republicans in their = regressive bent. On the financial front, Democrats are the new = champions of fiscal conservatism, doing responsible things like trying = to balance the budget and save for the future. Republicans, on the = other hand, have become fiscally irresponsible -- not "conservative" or = "liberal," but just plain irresponsible! If the Republican party were a = person, we would take away its credit cards and refer it to debt = management counseling. So strangely enough, the Democrats have become = the new conservatives on the block, both socially and fiscally. Weird, = eh? I really miss the days that Democrats were idealistic and could = proudly proclaim they were Liberal (with a capital "L"). My point? The same tired ol' terminology doesn't apply anymore. So = can't we stop throwing around all these dumb labels? We're all = patriots here, OK? If we are passionate enough to argue these points, = certainly we care about our country. As far as I'm concerned, that's my wind-up -- unless someone really = pisses me off by continuing to rag on Kerry's patriotism (or alleged = lack thereof). Peace -- and Joy! back at'cha ;-) Sarah ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/72/46/db/8d/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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