Why I'm Not Voting For You

Why I’m not voting for you.
It has become more and more obvious that the major parties do not represent me or my interests. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise, as the parties don’t really represent the majority of citizens. Yes, that’s a HUGE problem. But, let’s face it, the parties don’t care. The reason they don’t care, so it seems, is that their primary (monetary) support comes from the fringe elements of the party. Are all Republicans far right religious nutbars? Nope. All Democrats are tin foil hat wearing hippies who hate America? Again, no.

But, I digress. I am starting a series of “Why I’m Not Voting For You.” I will take a look at the more major parties and explain why I can’t, in good conscience, vote for them.
The parties?
Tea Party (because of the topical and humorous nature)
Greens
Libertarians
Democrats
Republicans

Why I’m not voting for you, Part 1
Let’s begin with a brand new entry into fringe American politics, the Tea Party.
What do they stand for? Why, let’s look at their website to see what they stand for, shall we? (I will ignore the ignorant and skin crawling idiocy that comes out in full force during Tea Party rallies. They are as insulting as they are moronic. They are, I believe, just a very visible minority of those in the party.)

They have a self titled “Non-Negotiable Core Beliefs.” Eww. Whenever a group of people stake out positions that cannot be moved, I get a little nervous. But, before I judge (and I will) let me run down these Core Beliefs.

-Illegal aliens are here Illegally. Ok, nothing wrong with that. But when one of the cornerstones of your party is something that is short term, you can tell there’s no long term staying power here. 20 years from now people may view them as an anomaly, like Ross Perot.

-Pro-Domestic Employment is Indispensible. Ok, another anti-foreigner stance. Nothing to see here, move along.

-Stronger Military is Essential. Key worrying word: Stronger. Not just a Strong military is needed, but a stronger one than we have now. This adds a little to my belief that the % of ex-military in the ol’ Tea Party is higher than any other party. The military is mighty strong as it is. What it needs is to be more oriented toward future threats and less toward fighting the Soviet Union. The only big dog left out there is China. And despite their numbers, our military would be just fine.

-Special Interests Eliminated. A broad brush is used in this Core Belief. Special interests are fine. Politicians that cater to them are not. Unless you specify HOW you’ll eliminate them, this statement is just populist fluff.

-Gun Ownership is Sacred. Woah boy! Sacred? Sacred? SACRED? I can think of a lot of things that people care about. Some I’d consider sacred. Free Speech, religion, family, love, drinking water. I’d put all those things on a “sacred” list before gun ownership. The problem, though, is that there is this long standing right wing paranoid/masturbatory fantasy about THEM (the democrats, liberals, socialists, communists, hippies, elves, and peter pan) trying to “take our guns away, dag gummite.” Anyone remember when Clinton took office? The right wing gun nuts flipped out and pronounced that we’d all better get guns now because Clinton was going to try to take them all. Clinton didn’t take them all and didn’t even TRY to take them. Same thing happened with Obama. But, along with the military Core Belief, I think this if fueled by military and ex-military elements in this fringe that probably DO value gun ownership over free speech. I view this, being a CORE BELIEF, as a problem.

-Government must be Downsized. Another common Republican position. Smaller federal government, they should say. I’m pretty sure they want most authority to be given to the states (which is usually followed by the “I love the 10th amendment” speech.)

-National Budget Must Be Balanced. A fantastic goal. Fiscal responsibility is very important. The big problem: what to cut. In concert with the above CORE BELIEF, the cuts would come at the federal power level. It’s part of a general pattern with the far right.

-Deficit Spending Will End. Well, if there’s a balanced budget, as stated above, there will be no deficit spending. All good.

-Bail-out and Stimulus Plans are Illegal. This is not so much a position as an opinion. If they were, indeed, illegal, then there’d be a stampede of sleazebag lawyers filing lawsuits every 6 or 7 seconds. These are NOT illegal, though if you believe they shouldn’t be done, I can at least respect that opinion. Because it’s just that, an opinion.

-Reduce Personal Income Taxes a Must. I’d be all for getting some of the 35% of my tax money back. Yay. Problem is, we can’t afford a stronger military with even more $25million jets without tax money. Reduce, fine. But be wise. Can’t go down too much because there are still bridges that need to be built and roads that need paving and that isn’t done with good intentions and a bunch of American flags.

-Reduce Business Income Taxes a Must. Same as above. There’s a LOT of things we need to pay for with taxes. No, not the Strategic Helium Reserve. We can get rid of that. It’s a common Republican thing to believe that if we make it easier for business to thrive, then everyone will thrive. There have been, to be kind, mixed results with this belief.

-Political Offices Available to Average Citizens. This is a campaign reform position. I have no problem with it. Seems logical. Though, the Average Citizen knows more about the JERSEY SHORE than they do about history and politics, so I’d hesitate a little before I hand the keys to the Union on over to Cletus.

-Intrusive Government Stopped. This is both a reaction to the Health Care Package (appalling) and a continuation of the downsize-the-government theme. The government is probably one of the least intrusive in the world. No need to panic.

-English as Core Language is Required. Another anti-immigration position. While I believe speaking more than one language is great, I will say that having English as an OFFICIAL language would be just fine. I say that not because I hate Mexicans (face it, all the pro-English and anti-immigrant talk is about Mexicans), but because it would head off frivolous lawsuits by sleazebag lawyers.

-Traditional Family Values are Encouraged. This is a weak way of saying, “we hate gays.” It’s also a weak way of saying, “Everything in the past was better.” The traditional family is not what it once was. And what are the values exactly? Apple pie instead of gelato? Baseball instead of soccer? This is a fairly stupid and useless CORE BELIEF.

-Common Sense Constitutional Conservative Self-Governance. That’s a mouthful. But it’s just another statement of traditional Republican positions, complete with some thinly veiled states-rights in there. Gotta love it.

In the end how many of these CORE BELIEFS do I believe in? Let me tally. . .hmmmmm. Maybe, maybe, five. And that includes a few “well I kinda think that’s ok” items.
See, the Tea Party is a fringe element of the Republicans. A dissatisfied element that hasn’t automatically driven itself off the right side of the spectrum, but has certainly pigeonholed itself as right wing, white, military or ex military, average educated or less, and somewhat out of touch with the average person (though that’s not exactly unique with political organizations.)
I will, though, give them credit for at least having their beliefs out there and available to see. They aren’t hiding and haven’t grasped onto delusional positions that sometimes grips fringe political groups. And they DID break free from the typical kowtowing that the Republican party does to the religious right. Huzzah!

I don’t think I can put my beliefs behind the Tea Party. Their CORE BELIEFS don’t coincide with mine and I doubt they do with most citizens. I think I should at least agree with, oh, 75% of a party’s beliefs for me to vote for or support. I just can’t do that here.
But, as they say in Baton Rouge, Vive la différence