Back in August 2009 I wrote a post titled Becoming An Elephant.At the time I was living in Washington State and was fairly active in the GOP there.
After I moved back to Oklahoma, I got mildly active initially but ended up registering as an Independent because I was not thoroughly impressed with the GOP establishment here in Oklahoma. Something about them rubbed me the wrong way.
A few months ago, I registered (again) as a Republican. Mostly because I became somewhat active in my support of Republican Presidential nominee Ron Paul.
Lately, however, I have been going back and forth on whether or not I really want to be a part of this party. After reading Steve Dickson's post on his Capitalist Sooner blog, Why I Am Republican I began to re-visit the idea of why I myself was a Republican.
So, I decided to revisit some old political posts here on the Otter Limits. I finally came upon the aforementioned Becoming An Elephant.
First, I'll copy some highlights from that blog:
"Immediately following the [2008] election, I realized that being an Independent was truly a lesson in futility.......I realized that the entire time I remained staunchly Independent I was in fact kidding myself.
So I began a sort of political soul-search to figure out where I belonged........after much thought and discussion with members of both parties (and discussions among other fellow Independents), I decided that since I agreed with the ideals of the Republican Party more often than I disagreed with them and that I truly did feel more in tune with their conservative principles, I decided to throw my hat into the GOP ring."
So, there is one reason that I still consider myself a Republican. Because I agree with them more often than not and certainly agree with them more often than I do with the Democrats, which, to me, is a party whose only solutions to the problems of our nation have to do with spending more money, which I can not agree with.
To cite some examples of things I believe in that the GOP also believes in, here are some items from the Oklahoma GOP website and their Statement of Principles: (Which is taken from the Oklahoma GOP Platform):
"We believe in limited government...." Check
"..individual liberty..." Check
"....personal moral responsibility..." Check
One quote from the Oklahoma State GOP platform really stuck at to me for some reason:
"That government closest to the people governs best and is preferred to centralized control."
And here are some of the GOP's stance on specific issues from the National GOP website:
Health Care. We support common-sense health care reforms that would lower costs, preserve quality, end lawsuit abuse, and maintain the health care that Americans deserve. We oppose government-run health care.
Energy. We believe in energy independence......[we support] an "all of the above" approach that encourages the production of nuclear power, clean coal, natural gas, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro power, as well as offshore drilling in an environmentally responsible way. We oppose so-called cap and trade legislation that would impose a national energy tax on families and small businesses that would....raise utility prices."
Courts. Republicans believe a judge's role is to interpret the law, not make law from the bench. Judges.......should demonstrate fidelity to the U.S. Constitution."
Unlike a lot of Republicans, I am not necessarily a Republican because of any admiration or any such thing for any specific Republican President. I liked Reagan. I don't treat him as sort of a conservative demi-god though. That is, I don't worship the Presidency of Ronald Reagan like a lot of Republicans. I was definitely not a fan of George I. For that matter, I was not the hugest fan of George II, although I liked him better than his dad as President.
No, I think the reason that I remain a Republican is because, whether the old school GOP members believe it or not (or if they remember it or not), the Republican Party is a defender of liberty.
Without liberty, nothing else matters. Without liberty, there is no freedom to choose who your elected officials are. Without liberty, there is no freedom on how to raise and school your children the way you want. Without liberty, there is no freedom to choose how to live your lives. Where to live. Where to work. What to drive. What to eat. What leisure activities to engage in.
Without liberty, there is no freedom. Period.
I am a Republican because I believe in the cause of liberty and because I trust the Republican Party (yes, the party that FREED the slaves) to be the Party to further the cause of liberty.
