one_raven
Oct27-04, 03:58 AM
I thought it was interesting...
The Last Straw - Carl Worden Makes His Vote Official
Carl F. Worden
That's it, I've had it.
I've been a registered Republican since I pulled my first lever in
a voting booth, and I've voted as a loyal Republican for
Republican candidates consistently every year. I am 55 years of
age. I am considered a right-wing Christian conservative and
strict constitutionist who knows the Framers of the Constitution
expected strict adherence to that original document unless and
until it is amended.
You don't get much more conservative and constitutionally-minded
than I am, and that is why I just cast my Oregon vote-by-mail
ballot for Democrat John Kerry as the next president of the United
States. So did my wife, and she's a very independent thinker. I
know there are thousands of lifelong Republican/Independent
conservatives who are going to do the same thing on November 2nd,
because they've written and told me so.
The absolute last straw for me took place at the Bush rally, held
in Central Point, Oregon on October 14th. President Bush stayed in
Jacksonville, Oregon overnight after the rally, and protesters and
police clashed on the streets. I sent out a photo of a Jackson
County Sheriff's Deputy, all Nazi'd up in black leather riot
control gear and grinning evilly as he shoved a woman holding her
5 year-old daughter. It wasn't the finest hour for local law
enforcement, but even that wasn't the last straw for me. No, the
last straw for me happened just before the Bush rally itself.
Three local teachers got tickets to the Bush rally, passed all the
security checkpoints and scrutiny and got in. They never created
or caused a disturbance, and they were perfectly peaceful members
of the audience waiting to hear Bush speak. But before they got to
hear Bush, they were expelled from the rally by Bush rally staff
who objected to the words printed on the T-shirts they were wearing.
No, the words on the T-shirts the ladies were wearing did not
disparage Bush, nor did they suggest support for Kerry or any
other candidate. The words did not condemn or support the war in
Iraq, nor did they slam any Administration policy. No, the
T-shirts the three women wore showed an American flag, and under
it the words, "Protect Our Civil Liberties". That was all, I kid
you not.
That was it. That was the last straw for me. That was the defining
moment I'll never forget. That was my epiphany.
Bryan Platt, Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central
Committee, said he stood 100 percent behind the person who made
the decision to exclude the women, removing any doubt that one or
two individuals exceeded their authority and blew it. No, it was
solid, Republican neo-conservative fascist policy on open display,
and the Brown Shirts weren't about to apologize for it. No way.
I am now a man without a political party. I will never again
register as a Republican unless the party returns to what it was
before the fascists took it over. I'm certainly not a Democrat or
a liberal, but I might just register as a Democrat to help them
avoid mistakes in the next primary, like running another John
Kerry for president. Any moderate, pro-gun southern Democrat would
have easily swept Bush aside this election. As it is, the race is
so close it could go either way at this point.
My decision to vote for Kerry was a vote to get Bush and his
administration out. I could have voted for a third party candidate
who couldn't possibly win, but that would have translated into a
vote for Bush, and I just couldn't do that. Too many kids in
uniform have already been killed and maimed for nothing, and I see
it as my primary duty to save as many of them as I can. If my vote
for a third party candidate means Bush wins and more kids come
home dead and mutilated, then I have abrogated my duty as an
American, as a Christian and as a decent human being. I didn't
know better during the Vietnam War, when I voted for Nixon twice,
but I would be without excuse if I did it again now.
This election is different: In this election, we all have to
answer the call to vote wisely. Lives depend on it, and God is
watching how we vote as well. When an individual sins, God deals
with him individually. When a whole nation sins, God deals with
the nation nationally. It's right there in the Bible.
The way I see it, the threat Bush presents is just too great. I
know what Bush did with his first four years on good behavior, and
so do you. What scares the bejeebers out of me is what Bush would
do with four more years with nothing to lose, and an assumed
mandate from the people for what he did the first four. At least a
Kerry Administration would be strapped down by a Republican
Congress, so I'm not too worried about major gun control bills
being passed, and as far as abortion is concerned, it really
doesn't matter what a president believes, because that issue is
decided only by the Judiciary Branch now.
Regardless of the proclaimed Bush position on abortion, he never
issued an executive order banning any form of abortion because he
knew such an order would be overturned by the courts. Oh, and that
phony Late-Term Abortion Ban Bush signed? It's as good as dead --
and I have a niggling feeling it was intended to be killed even as
they wrote it. The lower Federal Courts are already finding it
unconstitutional, and why?, because the people who authored it
left no possibility for a woman to use late term abortion to save
her life, let alone to preserve her health. In lieu of that
provision, any first year law student knew the federal courts
would overturn it, so why did seasoned lawyers/legislators write
it that way? Don't even try to convince me they overlooked
something as obvious as that.
I still believe this election is going to Kerry, no matter what
the polls predict. Last time, it was so close the Supreme Court
had to decide the outcome. This time, a huge number of former Bush
Republicans like me have bolted to Kerry. Unless a large number of
former Gore supporters are going to vote for Bush this time, I
don't see how Bush can get re-elected. Add to that the massive
numbers of young voters who are registered to vote for the first
time under threat of a draft, and I see Bush being shown the door
by more than a close vote. But we'll see...
What I do know is that any party that would find the words,
"Protect Our Civil Liberties" offensive or even threatening, is a
party I won't belong to anymore.
That was the last straw.
Carl F. Worden
The Last Straw - Carl Worden Makes His Vote Official
Carl F. Worden
That's it, I've had it.
I've been a registered Republican since I pulled my first lever in
a voting booth, and I've voted as a loyal Republican for
Republican candidates consistently every year. I am 55 years of
age. I am considered a right-wing Christian conservative and
strict constitutionist who knows the Framers of the Constitution
expected strict adherence to that original document unless and
until it is amended.
You don't get much more conservative and constitutionally-minded
than I am, and that is why I just cast my Oregon vote-by-mail
ballot for Democrat John Kerry as the next president of the United
States. So did my wife, and she's a very independent thinker. I
know there are thousands of lifelong Republican/Independent
conservatives who are going to do the same thing on November 2nd,
because they've written and told me so.
The absolute last straw for me took place at the Bush rally, held
in Central Point, Oregon on October 14th. President Bush stayed in
Jacksonville, Oregon overnight after the rally, and protesters and
police clashed on the streets. I sent out a photo of a Jackson
County Sheriff's Deputy, all Nazi'd up in black leather riot
control gear and grinning evilly as he shoved a woman holding her
5 year-old daughter. It wasn't the finest hour for local law
enforcement, but even that wasn't the last straw for me. No, the
last straw for me happened just before the Bush rally itself.
Three local teachers got tickets to the Bush rally, passed all the
security checkpoints and scrutiny and got in. They never created
or caused a disturbance, and they were perfectly peaceful members
of the audience waiting to hear Bush speak. But before they got to
hear Bush, they were expelled from the rally by Bush rally staff
who objected to the words printed on the T-shirts they were wearing.
No, the words on the T-shirts the ladies were wearing did not
disparage Bush, nor did they suggest support for Kerry or any
other candidate. The words did not condemn or support the war in
Iraq, nor did they slam any Administration policy. No, the
T-shirts the three women wore showed an American flag, and under
it the words, "Protect Our Civil Liberties". That was all, I kid
you not.
That was it. That was the last straw for me. That was the defining
moment I'll never forget. That was my epiphany.
Bryan Platt, Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central
Committee, said he stood 100 percent behind the person who made
the decision to exclude the women, removing any doubt that one or
two individuals exceeded their authority and blew it. No, it was
solid, Republican neo-conservative fascist policy on open display,
and the Brown Shirts weren't about to apologize for it. No way.
I am now a man without a political party. I will never again
register as a Republican unless the party returns to what it was
before the fascists took it over. I'm certainly not a Democrat or
a liberal, but I might just register as a Democrat to help them
avoid mistakes in the next primary, like running another John
Kerry for president. Any moderate, pro-gun southern Democrat would
have easily swept Bush aside this election. As it is, the race is
so close it could go either way at this point.
My decision to vote for Kerry was a vote to get Bush and his
administration out. I could have voted for a third party candidate
who couldn't possibly win, but that would have translated into a
vote for Bush, and I just couldn't do that. Too many kids in
uniform have already been killed and maimed for nothing, and I see
it as my primary duty to save as many of them as I can. If my vote
for a third party candidate means Bush wins and more kids come
home dead and mutilated, then I have abrogated my duty as an
American, as a Christian and as a decent human being. I didn't
know better during the Vietnam War, when I voted for Nixon twice,
but I would be without excuse if I did it again now.
This election is different: In this election, we all have to
answer the call to vote wisely. Lives depend on it, and God is
watching how we vote as well. When an individual sins, God deals
with him individually. When a whole nation sins, God deals with
the nation nationally. It's right there in the Bible.
The way I see it, the threat Bush presents is just too great. I
know what Bush did with his first four years on good behavior, and
so do you. What scares the bejeebers out of me is what Bush would
do with four more years with nothing to lose, and an assumed
mandate from the people for what he did the first four. At least a
Kerry Administration would be strapped down by a Republican
Congress, so I'm not too worried about major gun control bills
being passed, and as far as abortion is concerned, it really
doesn't matter what a president believes, because that issue is
decided only by the Judiciary Branch now.
Regardless of the proclaimed Bush position on abortion, he never
issued an executive order banning any form of abortion because he
knew such an order would be overturned by the courts. Oh, and that
phony Late-Term Abortion Ban Bush signed? It's as good as dead --
and I have a niggling feeling it was intended to be killed even as
they wrote it. The lower Federal Courts are already finding it
unconstitutional, and why?, because the people who authored it
left no possibility for a woman to use late term abortion to save
her life, let alone to preserve her health. In lieu of that
provision, any first year law student knew the federal courts
would overturn it, so why did seasoned lawyers/legislators write
it that way? Don't even try to convince me they overlooked
something as obvious as that.
I still believe this election is going to Kerry, no matter what
the polls predict. Last time, it was so close the Supreme Court
had to decide the outcome. This time, a huge number of former Bush
Republicans like me have bolted to Kerry. Unless a large number of
former Gore supporters are going to vote for Bush this time, I
don't see how Bush can get re-elected. Add to that the massive
numbers of young voters who are registered to vote for the first
time under threat of a draft, and I see Bush being shown the door
by more than a close vote. But we'll see...
What I do know is that any party that would find the words,
"Protect Our Civil Liberties" offensive or even threatening, is a
party I won't belong to anymore.
That was the last straw.
Carl F. Worden