FU - FairAndUNbalanced.com

In response to Burr Deming's
The Great DINO Hunt and Its Older Sibling, the RINO Hunt

At the source is technology. The Republican base is insulated from political reality. The GOP emulates Shakespearean drama. Hamlet's Ophelia, incapable of her own distress, drowns without knowing she is drowning. And the Republican Party puts on stage makeup and follows suit. Purge follows purge as the party of Lincoln rushes toward the Old Confederacy.

- Burr Deming, May 8, 2012

I believe that the RINO hunt is partly based on the belief that any compromise with Democrats ("big government" lovers) represents a victory for Democrats because the government still grows, albeit more slowly than it would if Democrats always got what they want. The solution is to create a true party of "no."

Then there is the matter of "moral" principles. The Religious Right demands that candidates reject gay marriage, abortion, drugs, sex education, secularism, non-Christian religions, the consensus in climate science, and often evolutionary science as well. These are all treated as great evils that are crippling our country by undermining our "moral foundation" and steering us away from God. There is no comparable force on the Left, which accepts more ideological variety. However, it seems to me that, perhaps in a competitive response to Republicans, Democrats are becoming less tolerant as well.

And we can't forget the GOP's hatred for Obama. It is not just his policies, but the man himself: he is an arrogant elite, a pretender, the "liberal Messiah," an opportunist, an "affirmative action President," a terrorist lover, a freedom and market hater, a Marxist communist socialist fascist crony capitalist. He signifies everything that is wrong. Consequently, everyone connected to him, from Democrats to the Republicans' very own Jon Huntsman, is poisoned.

It helps that conspiracy theorists are often either embraced (some even become politicians) or tolerated, but rarely rejected. Without them, I wouldn't have known that Obama isn't even American, which is probably why he wants to destroy our country by eliminating the private sector and introducing sharia. And did you notice that his middle name is Hussein? That's something to ponder.

Of course, liberals are also capable of developing conspiracies. But the motivation just isn't as strong when you don't think that everyone from communists to Muslims to atheists to big government is out to get you.

Given the RINO hunting, the conspiracy theorists, the religious dogma, and the Tea Party, I find it incredibly difficult to respect the GOP. I can only hope that we will soon see a backlash against these problems and the implementation of a more reasonable conservatism.

Ryan writes for his own site, where no amount of conspiracy or dogma will turn participants away from entertaining and informative debate.

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