Hatred In This Election Year

I have spent the last few weeks going through dusty, almost-forgotten boxes in my garage, purging in preparation for my retirement next summer.  I have a gut instinct (and we all know women's instincts) that I won't be staying in this house once my parents are gone.  I have also been bitten by the minimalist bug, albeit a slow bite..........and so, I purge.  

When I pulled down one high, filthy cardboard box and ripped off the yellowed tape (I've been in *this* house 14 years; I don't know when I sealed that box.), I found this doll.  You get a sense of her age both by her discolored appearance as well as the Reagan-Bush 1984 button.  I thought back on what the GOP meant to me in those bygone days.  

We were in the winding down of the Cold War era, and after a Jimmy Carter presidential fiasco, Ronald Reagan strode onto the political scene to save the day.  He represented power and a strength that intimidated our global enemies. (The US hostages in Iran were released on his inauguration day.  While Carter was negotiating prior to that, it is no coincidence that the release came as the reigns were passed.)  I was proud to vote for Reagan and continued to vote republican in every state/national election through 2015.

However, the current state of the GOP is not one I can support, and I have written about that before.  When I look at the GOP today, I see *nothing* but hatred.  Hatred for Clinton, hatred for President Obama, and even hatred for his wife Michelle.  I mean come on, what is there NOT to like about her?

Several years ago I began an "awakening," or a "revelation," if you will.  From my perspective, the GOP stands for inequality for all and serving as a global policeman looming over the affairs of other countries. That is pretty much it.  They don't believe in helping others; they don't believe universal health care is a right.  The republicans I know are pretty much middle/upper middle class who have no clue how life is for the poor, even the working poor.  Because they have healthcare, they don't care that others can't get cancer treatments equal to what they can get, because those poor don't have insurance.  I know because I *was* one.

These same republicans fill Facebook with posts about "Blue Lives Matter," but remain silent at the Orlando Pulse massacre.....silent when black boys and men are slaughtered by police.  Tell me that's not racially motivated.  If it isn't, then I am waiting for an explanation why the police are *more* important than the citizens they are supposed to *serve.*

 Many in the GOP wrap themselves up in their Bibles and quote the Old Testament, mostly making abortion the standard-bearing litmus test for all politicians; therefore, they portray the democrats as morally evil.  For this reason, I know republicans who will NEVER, EVER vote for a democrat....including some very close to me. 

So, this takes me to the current political climate in this country.  I have never seen such venom spewed from ANY political party as I see it from the republicans.  There was a lie circulating yesterday on Facebook that the dems had not hoisted Old Glory at their convention.  Now, *I* am not one to believe such rubbish without checking and double checking.  Sure enough, they did (and I promptly posted it on Facebook), and the young African-American boy who had sung for the Pope last fall sang the national anthem.  Yet, people who are supposedly very smart did not check their source and kept passing the lie around.....because THEY WANT TO BELIEVE IT!   I can't stand injustice, no matter the party affiliation, and I WILL call it out when I see it!

Years ago I was a staunch Fox News watcher, as are others close to me.  However, in my "awakening," God opened my eyes to the hate they spew.  It is now banned in my home, not that the cats can turn on the tv anyway.  While I do agree that mainstream media is leftist, Fox has gone too far to the right.  When I see the people on there (and at times I can't escape them if I am elsewhere), all they do is yell over each other and repeat the same hate-filled rhetoric ad nauseum over and over and over. (My redundancy here is deliberate for illustrative purposes.) 

So, unlike my republican christian counterparts, I can not embrace Donald Trump "because he is better than the alternative."  

*My* Jesus tells me to love my neighbor as myself, do onto the poor and I will have done unto Him.  There is no hatred in *my* Jesus, and I strive to emulate Him.  Therefore, I have to follow Him and His model for how we are to live.