Like you probably share disgust with some elements of the left, I share disgust with the Religious Right, Neo-cons, and a few other groups labelling themselves conservative. As for the Republican party tolerating racism for so long, I couuld make a logical case for the Democrats racist action in the north and northeast doing the same exact thing. However, it’s better not to engage in tit for tat, and try to have fruitful, engaging, civil dialogue, and perhaps come to an agreement somewhere along the line. I remain very optomistic about our future….not just our future, but that of the entire world’s future. My big speculator friend put this chart on the web about the progress of man. Here’s the link.
http://cid-7cce6cc91d5a23c2.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Riz%20Din%7C4s%20public%20folder/GDP%20over%20the%20millenium.GIF

There is hope.

Jeff

And it’s only going to get worse. It’s been a long time since I was proud of a political party – ANY political party – but by November I suspect you’re going to be disgusted with yours.

Dallas Morning News
AP

Jeff

examples of what is included on Texas GOP Party Platform as of 2004. Don’t think it has changed since:http://www.theocracywatch.org/texas_gop.htm

p.8, Christian Nation: “The Republican Party of Texas affirms the United States of America is a Christian Nation …”

p.10: Celebrating Traditional Marriage calls for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and opposes the legalization of “sodomy” ie homosexuality.

p.11 – Right to Life includes suspending use of RU 486 and commends President Bush for “banning the government funding of human embryo stem cell harvesting.”

p.15: Supports abstinence only sex education which is strongly supported by the Bush administration.

p.17: supports teaching of intelligent design (a form of creationism) and teaching evolution as merely a theory rather than scientific fact.

p.26: “The Party believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership, as well as financial and military contributions to, the United Nations… The Party urges Congress to evict the United Nations from U.S. soil.”

Not suprising the pin turned up. This coming from the Purple Bandaid crowd. How can we forget.

Would these be right up there with the so-called “Tradition, Family and Property” movement?

I doubt the US system will ever support more than two parties the way parliamentary systems do. A small minority party in our system has virtually no power, which would leave the people who elected third-party candidates with little say, through their representatives, in the gummint. There have been a few third parties in US politics in the past, but they rarely lasted long.

p.8, Christian Nation: “The Republican Party of Texas affirms the United States of America is a Christian Nation …”

p.10: Celebrating Traditional Marriage calls for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and opposes the legalization of “sodomy” ie homosexuality.

p.11 – Right to Life includes suspending use of RU 486 and commends President Bush for “banning the government funding of human embryo stem cell harvesting.”

p.15: Supports abstinence only sex education which is strongly supported by the Bush administration.

p.17: supports teaching of intelligent design (a form of creationism) and teaching evolution as merely a theory rather than scientific fact.

p.26: “The Party believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership, as well as financial and military contributions to, the United Nations… The Party urges Congress to evict the United Nations from U.S. soil.”

Not suprising the pin turned up. This coming from the Purple Bandaid crowd. How can we forget.

Interesting take on locales of racism in the South. I found Chicago and Minneapolis to be quite racist, much more than many places in the South….not in your face racist, but a racism of a more subtoe, insidious variety. However, I do, like you, remember the Jim Crow laws in Florida. Segregation really bugged me when I was a kid, and I couldn’t understand the why’s.

Jeff

Having said that, I’ve felt very uncomfortable in North Loosiana, which seems to me to be a very different sort of environment than New Orleans or even Baton Rouge. I’ve been all over Mississippi, including places like Philadelphia where the civil rights workers were killed, and it’s probably the place where my fellow whites were the most likely to openly express racist opinions.

Hey, I’m just down the road from you in San Antonio; I went to school in Austin.

http://politicsoffthegrid.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/barack-cowboy-hat.jpg

I had a guy tell me the other day that he wont vote for Obama because he’s black. I told him I wont vote for him because he’s half white.

Didn’t Chris Rock already say something like this a while ago?

So actually the white house would have to be called the “half white house.”

The President’s a Nearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Seen over the weekend at a vendor’s table at the Republican state convention in Texas: A button with the question, “If Obama is president … will we still call it The White House?”
Another reportedly said, “Press 1 for En…