I would like to consider myself an independent voter. In truth, I am probably more of a moderate Democrat than an Independent, but I have always disliked labels because most things factoring into them are contingent and malleable. Tuesday, Nov. 6, I was forced to do something that I hope I never have to do again: vote straight democrat. It isn’t that I will never again vote straight Democrat or that I never again want to vote straight Democrat. Rather, I hope with all of my heart that I never again feel it absolutely necessary to do so. In fact, I sincerely want to be able to one day endorse a Republican candidate.
Although I am a native Chicagoan, I chose to vote here in Wisconsin because I felt that this fine state needed my vote more than the Land of Lincoln did. And to be fair, there are some Republican candidates in Illinois that, if the timing were right, I would have no problem endorsing. For instance, in what would have been my voting district in the suburbs of Chicago, the district 10, there could very well exist circumstances in which I would whole-heartedly cast my ballot for moderate Republican Robert Dold, who lost to Democrat Brad Schneider by the narrowest of margins. The conditions that I speak of, that I find so dire and pressing to be able to enjoy a moderate Republican in office, are that nowhere, on any ballot, should any Tea Party member have a legitimate chance of success.
There have been great Republican politicians in the past, and there still are in the present. Vintage John McCain and Mitt Romney, as well as current Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie immediately come to mind.
But the fact is that the Republican Party has been usurped by the Tea Party. That is the reason that John McCain chose Sarah Palin as a running mate four years ago, and it is the reason that Paul Ryan campaigned alongside Mitt Romney. The Tea Party represents a backwards, mendacious and often racist element of extreme right-wing conservativism, and with them holding sway in the government, moderate Republicans have no choice but to at least partially assimilate to Tea Party platforms so that they can simultaneously push their own agendas.
I cannot fathom putting more Republicans in office as long as the Tea Party is around. I refuse to allow my country to be dictated by people who could not care less about those who are inherently disadvantaged. I will not stand for anyone who condones, or does not condemn, the belief that rape can be legitimate or that it is the will of God. I will not remain idle while politicians recklessly permit the debt ceiling to near the brink of default, causing an economic catastrophe, just because the extant, mindful propositions to avoid such collapse come from someone who they dislike. And above all else, I understand that it is inevitable that all politicians stretch the truth. But I will take no part in supporting a party that purely fabricates and propagates false data and ideas on a daily basis, with zero regard for any last bit of truth.
I genuinely want there to be a time, hopefully in the near future, when I am perfectly content to call Mark Kirk or Chris Christie my president and be confident that bipartisan propositions will be instituted to make the country I love so dearly a better place. That can only happen when the Tea Party is a mere remnant of the past, a blip in the history books. Until then, I must acknowledge that I am so very proud to call Barack Obama the president of my country, the United States of America. May it be a prosperous four more years!
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