I’m used to gagging on my coffee and toast when I eat my breakfast in front of my computer and open the New York Times to start my news reading for the day. I can alternately read and look out the window to watch the sun rising in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, a breathtaking reminder that the world hasn’t totally turned to crap.
Typically my gagging is brought on by Republican cooties. They’re gut-gnawing slugs that have invaded the intestinal tract of the U.S. capital and they’re able to reach through a computer monitor and give intestinal heebie-jeebies those who come into contact with their bile.
This is not to say that the Democrats haven’t turned my stomach at times over the past seven years, but I was loyal to them so I attempted to explain and excuse some of their gaffs. I certainly confronted them when I thought they were wrong, as when my then senator John Kerry voted for the Iraq war. But they did just enough good for me to forgive their transgressions. And I realized they were in a tough position, though that didn't always explain their actions.
That was until many Democrats voted to not only allow the Bush cabal’s domestic spying programs, but to expand them and remove FISA oversight. They voted to further consolidate Bush’s power and further remove the checks and balances so desperately needed with the Bush presidency. They voted against the U.S. Constitution and for an anti-constitutional program of a president widely viewed to be corrupt and dangerous to core American principles.
My stomach didn’t turn and nothing invaded my body already over-saturated with Republican cooties. I felt a swift, military boot-clad kick in my gut. I had been betrayed by people I worked hard to get elected into office. These people who claimed to love my Constitution were helping to savage it.
My trust in the system is gone. My post-2006-election day elation has turned to revulsion. My anger at the Democrats for their cowardly action has abated somewhat, but only because I can look at the names of those Democrats who voted against the “Protect America Act.” Democrats who didn’t bother to vote on this bill are lumped with the weasels who did vote for it – their actions are almost more cowardly than those willing to exhibit themselves voting against the Constitution.
Life goes on though. The next day I began my routine as I usually do, reading the New York Times with my cup of coffee, piece of toast, and the sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains as my companions. There was one difference though, one that surprisingly brought a tear to my eye. After about 30-years as a registered Democrat, I was that next day, a registered Independent.
Our elected officials need to learn about the people they represent – they clearly don’t get it. It’s too easy and simplistic to blame “angry bloggers” or the extreme left or any other imaginary, media-hyped group as being the lone reactionaries when our legislators ignore the will of the people and, more importantly, the Constitution. Let me make this very clear: I’m a 51-year-old former Democrat. I’m most assuredly in the moderate range and yes, I’m angry. Not only am I angry, I’m saddened by what our country has become and what our Democratic politicians aren’t doing to stop the country’s and the Constitution’s evisceration. I understand that we don't have the majority people think that we do and I understand they've had little time to undo the wrongs perpetrated since 2000. Neither of those observations has anything to do with the Democrats who voted for the "Protect America Act."
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