John Timmer at Ars Technica published an excellent piece on the difference of right and wrong, or should I say, left and wrong. I couldn't agree more, but would like to add my own thoughts.
On political issues, it is difficult to talk with my Republican friends because after years of me listening to different pundits than them (my republican friends), we have adopted a completely different political dialects and can no longer even communicate effectively anymore.
My Republican-leaning friends and acquaintances tell me, the most important issues to them include free markets (meaning lowered taxes), and the right to own property (including firearms). There are two things wrong with this: (1) it implies the Democrats oppose free markets and low taxes, which they don't -- I certainly don't oppose these free markets or low taxes, and (2) that the right wing (Republicans, or Tea Party, either way) will, though often messing things up, tend to vote in favor of free markets and lowered taxes more consistently -- which they don't, in fact Republicans almost never do, though they never fail to pay lip service to "lower taxes" and "free markets".
You seriously have a much better chance of getting lower taxes and free markets out of the Democrats than you do the Republicans these days, (but definitely do NOT take that as an endorsement for the Democrats).
It seems to me, the thing my Republican friends and acquaintances simply won't let themselves believe is that what they care about so much, free markets, low taxes, right to own property, etc., aren't even on the party platform, they aren't even public issues, they aren't even a topic of debate anymore. When the president comes up with some new policy, immediately they pull out the claims of "communist", "raises taxes", "threatens the constitution", but that is just hot air. Doesn't anyone know that?
The Right-Wing, collectively the Republicans and the Tea Party, care about NOTHING but three things: ban abortion (via claims to Moral superiority), teach Christianity to non-christians (via creationism/abstinence-only-education in classrooms), environmentalists are Satan incarnate and should NEVER have their way.
Now, NONE of my Republican friends believe these three things anymore than I believe in communism or oppose free markets and low taxes. So I have to ask them, why the HELL do they vote Republican? Look at the kinds of things the Republicans presidential candidates are talking about! Seriously, you think the Democrats are as vehemently opposed to scientific facts as these candidates? You really think the Democrats are so vehemently opposed to free markets and low taxes that you would even consider voting for someone who says "all global warming is is scientists using scare-tactics to make money in research grants," or "God created the heaven and the earth, and this is every bit as valid a scientific theory as the theory of evolution, so intelligent design should be given equal time in science classes in public schools."
How could any reasonable voter could come to believe that Democrats are so evil and Republicans are not as much -- well, by listening to right-wing propaganda networks like Fox or Talk Radio, of course, who frame EVERY issue as either anti- or pro-constitution, and EVERY issue as either anti- or pro- free-market, and guess which political party always ends up the scapegoat for anti-constitution and anti-free-markets tendencies? If you let yourself believe, even for the slightest moment, that every news organization apart from Fox has left-wing bias, the propaganda machine already has you.
I can't in good conscience endorse the Democrats, but at least CONSIDER the possibility of voting for someone apart from the Right-Wing candidate. The Right-Wing candidates DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR VALUES.
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