I Am A Conservative, Not A Republican

The Republican party is spiraling downward with a series of embarrassing gaffes and positions by party leadership. For two years I have watched this slide and found that while I agree with some points of the platform, I have found that Republican leaders are more about self than about the principles they endorse during election years.

I am a conservative, not a Republican. There is starting to be a big difference.

I believe that less government is good, the less the government intrudes in my life and the lives of my friends and families the better. Don't give me a legislative branch that is full of Republicans trying their best to spend my tax dollars on personal earmarks. Don't give me Republicans in Congress who vote for the stimulus bills (yes, another stimulus bill is being floated), the bailouts, federally funded embryonic stem cell research, DC to get a House seat, and who approve tax cheats as Cabinet members.

Don't give me the IRS, the Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others who want to control every aspect of my life.

Don't give me an executive branch of government who rules by executive orders instead of legislation, who uses the office of the President to ignore the Constitution, who compares his intentions to Abraham Lincoln instead of letting others compare his actions to one of the greatest presidents, who uses his office to blast private citizens (Rush Limbaugh) for disagreeing politically, who funds overseas abortions with my tax dollars, who preaches fiscal responsibility to states receiving the stimulus money and to CEO but signs the biggest budget increase in history and an omnibus bill that is filled with more pork than a Porky Pig family reunion.

Don't give me a judicial branch who is willing to write legislation through judicial review and rule from the bench, who is afraid to overturn Roe vs Wade, who will not honor the rights of the majority but will allow the minority to prevail, who cite international law in their decisions, and who are willing to give up sovereignty to a world court.

Don't give me a Republican National Committee chair, Michael Steele, who believes that abortion is an individual woman's right to choose, who believes that homosexuality is like being black - you don't have a choice, who was elected because of communication skills but has shown to be incompetent. This man isn't fit to lead the Republican party and neither are leaders like Mitch McConnell (minority leader in the Senate), Orrin Hatch, Bob Bennett, Arlen Specter, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Guliani, Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell. It is more about them than it is about us.

I am a conservative, not a Republican and will not be a Republican again until they start to believe the same way I do.

I am a conservative, not a Republican