What if I Were a Republican?

I don’t have any Republican friends (well, not any that will cop to that), but I do have Republican acquaintances.  And that’s fine.  Nobody’s perfect.  We are all entitled to one mega mistake per lifetime. 

Usually when I find out that acquaintances are Republicans, without fail, I always take a pregnant pause.  My first impression usually is, “He seems so normal.”  “She is so rational.”  “How is that possible?”  Then for I a split second or more like several minutes, I picture them listening to and believing the rhetoric of people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.  I picture them being unfair, illogical, hateful, racist, bigoted.

But because these people appear amicable, I wonder if peoples’ personalities or traits cause them to be Republican or being Republican causes them to have certain characteristics or attributes.  I mean during small talk, these people and I relate to so many things like family, careers and vacations; they seem so sane.  So it really troubles me to perceive them as having weird political beliefs.  I kid.  I kid.

But seriously, if I were a Republican, would I have a different mindset?  Would I see the world totally differently?  I always think of it as a ‘which comes first, the chicken or the egg’ scenario.  If I were a Republican, would I believe that every child should be entitled to a great public school or believing that every child is entitled to a great public school makes me a Liberal?

If I were a Republican, would I believe that every frigging nut job is entitled to own a boatload of automatic weapons or knowing that the right to bear arms is highly overrated makes me a Liberal?

If I were a Republican, would I believe that the “job creators” are the only ones who can crank up the economy or because I believe that building and maintaining infrastructure will create stateside jobs makes me a Liberal?

  

If I were a Republican, would I believe that health insurance companies should not prosper from consumers’ ill health and death or would I believe that health insurance companies like any other company is in business solely to profit?  Would it make a difference if a baby needs a life saving innovative procedure but the parents have reached the lifetime limit?

Would I refrain from assisting the poor and elderly with such vehemence but have no trouble giving billions of dollars in tax credits to multi-billion dollar corporations?

Look I’m as liberal as they come. Okay, maybe more.  I believe that as much as I would not have an abortion, I would not inject my personal beliefs and morals on someone who chooses to have one.  Although the idea of using abortion as birth control seems ridiculous to me, I cannot in good conscience tell someone else that under the law, they cannot do that.  Who am I to say that if a woman or girl is raped, whether forcibly or not, that she will be in the right mind to have that child, to raise that child, to have that child be a reminder of what she endured?  Likewise that girl whose baby was conceived in an incestuous rape or that woman whose life is at risk due to a pregnancy and wants to bring that baby to term and vows to love that baby, again, who am I to condemn her?  I refuse to pretend to know someone else’s psyche.

As heterosexual as I am, I have no problem with same sex marriage.  Who am I to tell someone else that the person he is in love with is wrong in my eyes?  That her life is a sin?  Plus, why should heterosexuals alone suffer?  Marriage should be an equal rights suffering opportunity.

After 9/11, I vehemently disagreed with the government for profiling Muslims and others from the Middle East, especially since not everyone from Asia or the Middle East is a Muslim.  Wire tapping ordinary citizens and strip searching airline passengers all in the name of the nation’s security should feel like an infringement to Republicans.  Yet, after 9/11, all of that was quite fine.

To demonstrate how outlandish Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is, check this out.  After the Shoe Bomber’s inept attempt to bring a plane down two months after 9/11, no one was permitted to board a plane without removing his shoes.  After several failed liquid explosives attempt, passengers were again banned from travelling with liquids on their person.  So even if you were seen drinking a can of Coke, you would have to finish it or dispose of it before going on the plane.  And you mothers don’t even think you can bring your babies’ bottles on board.  You better fill their small bellies before you get on that plane.  Force it down their throats if you have to or discard it.  Those are your choices.  I always wondered why no one at the executive level ever recommended that the agents used a little bit of common sense and enforced the rules on a case by case basis.

But another thing I always wondered about is this:  After the Underwear Bomber failed to detonate his bomb, why weren’t we banned from wearing or removing our underwear before boarding flights?

My Republican acquaintances might not have seen me in a different light, had I reveal that I’m a Liberal, but they probably would be taken aback knowing that I actually possess some not so liberal ideas.  Like I truly believe that although it is the government’s job to ensure that its citizens are taken care of in terms of education and wellbeing, everyone should take personal responsibility for himself.  If you are of a certain age, seek employment.  If you keep having babies for different fathers who are unwilling to support you, stop.  If you have children in school, read to them and don’t depend on teachers to do it all.

However, as liberal as I lean in terms of my political and social views, I have always been an independent minded individual, and I tolerate everyone's point of view, even Republicans, no matter how wrong they are - perspectively speaking.