What's my party?

Someone asked what my political affiliation was. They guessed I was not a Republican, probably because of my recent bashing of the Tim Pawlenty administration. Actually, I've been bashing dishonest politicians for about 26 years, but only recently created this blog.

Perhaps surprisingly, the only political party I've ever been a member of is, in fact, the Republican Party. But I bailed out on them quite a few years ago when it became obvious that it had been hijacked by the religious right, the overwhelmingly dishonest and the politicians completely bought and paid for by the wealthy and big corporations. I was a Dwight Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater Republican — the kind who has a certain set of beliefs in how best to improve society and the country through hard work, self responsibility, honesty and integrity.

Today's Republicans, by and large, vote for what will make their contributors or themselves richer or more powerful, with little regard to the long-term ill effects on society and America. Most of today's Republicans are morally bankrupt, unethical, short-sighted ignorant scoundrels, and they're ruining the country. It's much like the fall of the Roman Empire.

So now I am an independent voter, independent of any party affiliation or loyalty. I vote for candidates who exhibit the most honesty, idealism and integrity: candidates with whom I may disagree on some issues or some methods of achieving results, but men and women who have their hearts in the right place, those who want to make life better for everybody in the long run as public servants, rather than being career politicians or self-servants looking only for personal gain.

I'll happily bash anybody in power who is corrupt, stupid, short-sighted or dishonest. On a local level, that group just happens to be Tim Pawlenty and the Minnesota Republican Party at the moment.