 "Photo: Tom Bui/Staff Illustration")
 "Photo: Jean-Pierre Garcia/Staff Photo")
The Grand Old Party has faltered in a perpetual political war against the Democratic Party, and is being overcome by the dreaded evolution of its people.
Recently, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania converted from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.
Specter noticed something about his mother-party that most Republicans have yet to understand: any government that doesn’t follow suit with its people’s social, political, and scientific progressions will certainly fail.
Sen. Specter, while reading statistics and reviewing his own party and its beliefs, realized that it is falling apart.
One of the cancers internally threatening the Republican Party is the fundamental religious right.
They tend to believe in: no gay marriage, no abortions, guns everywhere, capital punishment express-lanes; economic plans which benefit the rich, namely other Republicans; acting as “agnostic” environmentalists in order to preserve corporation revenue and low tax; pro war plans which benefit military corporations; and the list persists in selfishness.
As John Baden of High County News expresses, “[S]ince Reagan, the Republican Party has become more concerned with power and privilege than principle.”
On one social issue, there should be no reason why a man should not be allowed to marry another man, or a woman another woman. The only reason why this “issue” has come to a front is that apparently the Christian God says no. It seems that two ideally separate portions of society have fused together – church and state.
But while the Republicans refuse to allow any gay marriage, the Democratic Party offers a blind eye to the “situation” and more than often Democratic Congressmen vote for gay marriage. Because of this, most gays vote Democrat.
In recent years, since African American and Hispanic peoples tend to inhabit poorer communities, they vote for the Democratic Party as well.
The Democratic Party believes in lowering middle and low income household taxes while raising upper class and corporation/business taxes.
The Republican Party is just the opposite. Since even before “Reaganomics” came into the economic/political arena, the Republican Party has been the “Rich Man’s” party; the party which lowers the rich, upper class’ taxes, who are often also Republicans, and raises middle and lower class’ taxes.
The gay, African American and Hispanic votes are for the most part, lost to the Republican Party.
Many other people, not necessarily gays, Africans, or Hispanics, are turned off by the Republican gun lobby.
In homicides of 2005, roughly two-thirds of all murders were by gun shot.
It is clear that guns are one of the leading causes of death in America, yet Republicans are afraid they’ll lose their guns, or the profits they make from gun sales. Perhaps they should lose their guns.
In wanting to continue to sell weapons like this, and on another, older issue, cigarettes, it seems that Republicans don’t really care about safety, and they probably care more so about the game of capturing and killing “terrorists” and “pagans.”
The topic of abortion is a fragile one. Both parties have trouble figuring out what the right choice should be. Though, for the religious right of the Republican Party, abortion is a sin, murder in its most disgusting form. Democrats, on the other hand, seem to be more up for debate on the issue. Democrats bring up arguments like, “How can we possibly know what the mother is going through?”
As to the environment, the Republican Party seems to still be undecided about whether the event of global warming is a real occurrence. From the incredible weather we’ve had recently, all around the world, and the evidence which the majority of the scientific community has offered them, it is obviously real. The evidence for the event itself and its causes are there.
All these beliefs, and many that I haven’t mentioned or touched upon, are regressive, slowing the rate of development and growth for our nation in the attempt to reach a former social, political, and economic glory.
In the place of the former Republican Party, the party closest to it will most likely take control – the Libertarian Party.
Sen. Specter came to the apparent realization that his party is now gasping for air, and is not likely to breathe easy for a very long time. And in the attempt to revive the American economic landscape, he defectsed to the party which will most likely bring it back to standing health – the Democratic Party.
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