justice 4 y'all

That’s right. The Republican Party lost what I believe to be their only chance at defeating President Obama in November. Jon Huntsman was their man and they blew it! The Republican primary for president has turned into a circus. Mitt Romney changes his position on issues every day, Rick Santorum is extremely extreme, Newt Gingrich wants a moon colony, and Ron Paul….exactly. There’s not a single candidate left standing that has what it takes to take on President Obama in the fall. So, what do you do?

Well for starters, rally behind one person. End the primary. Stop trying to mimic the Democratic primary that took place in 2008 between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Face it, the Democratic Party was given two extremely talented individuals in 2008 worth having a drawn out primary over. This is not the case in your situation. Mitt Romney is extremely out of touch with the average American; he doesn’t even know where he personally stands on the issues. Rick Santorum spends too much time bullying the LGBT community. Newt Gingrich is promising $2.50/gallon gasoline, something the President doesn’t have much control over in the first place. You need a candidate that isn’t pandering to the far right. You need someone who can attract voters from all areas of the political spectrum. Afterall, Republicans aren’t the only political party that make up the electorate.

Why Jon Huntsman? Well, he’s the only one that made a lick of sense to begin with. Then there’s the experience factor. Huntsman has experience working under four Presidents. He worked for Reagan, Bush Sr, Bush Jr, and wait for it…Obama. That’s right, he was appointed by President Obama to be the United States Ambassador to China. Talk about foreign policy experience! He also has stateside experience. He was elected Governor of Utah in 2004 and won a second term in 2008, only to resign a few months later to answer the call from President Obama to serve as ambassador to China. This shows that Jon Huntsman isn’t the type of politician that’s worried about getting reelected or putting party first. Jon Huntsman is just worried about doing what’s right and expected of him.

Not only does Jon Huntsman have the foreign policy experience and stateside experience, he’s a moderate Republican. Jon Huntsman took some particularly unpopular stances on social issues, ones that aren’t received well by the Christian Right. Being more moderate on social issues is a plus when you’re running for President. Why? Well, you end up attracting members of parties besides your own. That’s the key. You can’t win an election by pleasing the Republican Party only, you have to branch out and catch the interest of Democrats and Independents as well. That’s where Mitt, Rick, and Newt have gone astray. They’ve been spending all of their time and resources running to the far right. This is a bad thing. If this primary is drawn out all the way to the convention in August, the nominee has an ugly road ahead.  They’ll have just a few months to run the other way, trying to attract the attention of the more moderate members of the Republican Party as well as Independents.

With Rick Santorum giving Mitt Romney a run for his money around the United States, the likelihood of Mitt securing enough delegates before the convention is minimal. There are a few options Republicans will be faced with at their convention in August. Delegates break their loyalties and throw their support behind the other candidate, super delegates throw their weight behind Mitt and push him over the magic number (1,144), or delegates decide they aren’t happy with either candidate and want to nominate someone else. That’s where Jon Huntsman should come back in the picture. However, being so late in the game it doesn’t give him enough time to get his message out there. However unlikely, it could still happen.

We hear it all the time. Members of the Republican Party love to claim that they are the party of less government. If you follow the news, its hard to believe that claim to be true. While it may not be completely false, it is hard to ignore. It seems certain members of the Republican Party only want less government when it comes to economic issues. However, when it comes to social issues they jump at the chance to intervene. Why are they trying to have it both ways?

It seems that religion has worked its way deep into the foundation of the Republican Party. The separation of church and state is now a thing of the past, something our kids will read about in textbooks someday. Unless we act. I am a Christian, but we are in danger as a country when religion and politics share the same bed at night. While it may not be written, Thomas Jefferson was a firm believer in the separation of church and state. It is something that has been adopted as a sort of unwritten law of the land and should remain so. Many Supreme Court cases have been decided in favor of separation of church and state. Religious freedom is something that is granted to all citizens of this country in the First Amendment of our constitution; no matter what the religion. So, why is the Christian Right trying to create and block legislation based on their religious views and interpretation of the Bible?

James Madison once said “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed”. More evidence that the founding fathers were in support of laws not being created with religion as their foundation. So, why are some members of the Republican Party trying to form laws that disregard the rights of minorities? Laws dealing with issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, contraception, and adoption (to name a few) are being voted on in state legislatures every day.  These laws are aimed at none other than minorities. Simply put, they are attacks on people’s lives. Two people of the same-sex are being told that loving one another is wrong because of someone elses interpretation of the Bible. They are being told that they can’t adopt children because two women and two men raising a child can affect the character of the child. Women are being told what they should and shouldn’t do with their bodies. Laws like these should be viewed as nothing less than bullying. People are being bullied by those they elected to serve and protect their freedoms.

Do the attacks I mentioned above sound like less government to you? No, they don’t. We’ve elected bullies to tell people how they should live their lives. That’s not the America I want to live in. We’re better than this. Make a difference this November and research the votes of those that represent you. Together we can show the world that we’re still the greatest country on earth.

Here we are, in the 21st century and there are bumper stickers like the one above surfacing across the country. In 2008, we elected Barack Obama (an African-American) as the 44th President of the United States of America. What has caused people in this great country to slap racist messages on their cars? It’s hard to imagine that people’s minds have not progressed in the last 50 years. Messages like these do nothing to help move this country forward, they only divide us. Where did we go wrong?

Like me, you may find it hard to believe that someone would take their racism a step further and display this on their car. Yet, should we be surprised? Ever since his election in 2008, Barack Obama has been the target of criticism from members of the Republican Party. Demands for his birth certificate pop up in the news almost every day. People won’t give him an ounce of credit for the progress that has been made. Why? Well if you ask me, like this bumper sticker, a lot of it has to do with his race. I’m not saying that all people who don’t agree with President Obama are racist. What I am trying to say is, why can’t credit be given where credit is due? Equal pay for women, ending the discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the US military, saving the American auto industry from collapse, efforts to bring our troops home, reforming student loans, and increasing veteran benefits. While that may not be a complete list of accomplishments, those are some highlights. Surely everyone can find one thing from that list they can agree with. So, why all of the trash talk?

I’ll break it down for you. Many Americans don’t like change. They like the way things are and the way things used to be. We cannot live like that any longer, we need to move forward as a country. Like I said above, everyone should be able to find something from that list of accomplishments that they agree with. So why do people pose the question “What has he done?” If you take the time to explain to someone the accomplishments of the Obama administration and they still can’t agree on one thing, there’s some hidden issue. Maybe it’s not racism, maybe they’ve been programmed to never agree with Democrats on anything. Who knows? This is just my opinion.

Why can’t we move forward together as a country? What happened to being united? After September 11th 2001 there was a sense of unity across the country. People pulled together, American flags were displayed on almost every house and car, and the motto was “United We Stand”. With the heated political rhetoric in this country its hard to believe we’ll ever see those days again. I think we’ve reached “Divided We Fall” status. Political debates turn into shouting matches and name calling. Aren’t we better than this?

Maybe the time has come where we all need to take a step back and really assess the situation. Let us be honest with one another. Let us take the time to hear both sides. Let us learn from one another. Let us not shout, but talk. Let us not argue, but debate. If we can do these things, we can move forward together. If we cannot, our progress risks being reversed.