Australia's election and the screaming from down under

I'd been aware of the split in Oz between the two major sides in the election, at least as nasty as the split here. Earlier I was looking at Whacking Day, reading the various letters and what can only be described as screaming and whining tirades about Howard's victory.

I think what really bothers me most about this, same as a lot of the noise at places like democraticunderground, is the attitude: if you don't vote the way we say you should, you are EVIL! Not in error, not mistaken, not posessed of a different opinion, YOU ARE EVIL! You want everybody to DIE! YOU are a Racist and a Bigot and must be DESTROYED! Etc.

I'm really tired of this crap. Every time I see a sign or bumper sticker that says "Democrats Care" I want to scream. Obviously, if you're not one of us, you don't care about things. I'm really sick of these clowns thinking that they have some kind of monopoly on concern for others, a monopoly on emotions(except hate, of course, the conservatives/republicans/anyone-not-a-progressive-thinker have all of THAT).

When I first registered to vote, I registered as a Democrat. Main reason was, as my mom put it, "If you're not, you'll never get to vote in the primaries", because there were rarely any Republicans running in local stuff. It's where I first ran into the attitude, "I don't care if he's a drunk/thief/incompetent/fool/liar, he's the Party Candidate, so I'll vote for him". I came to absolutely detest that attitude, and finally registered as Republican; I didn't have any particular liking for that party, it was just my way of protesting the virtual stranglehold the D party had in Oklahoma.

I still think that anyone who votes solely according to party is hanging a sign over their head that says "I have no need for a brain, I don't need to think; the Party does that for me!" That may be a good working line in Cuba, or in the Peoples Republic of China, but it's a damn lousy way for a free citazen of a country to think.

One of the things that used to drive me crazy was the way people would continue to vote for a party's candidate even though he was pushing ideas they hated; the most important thing was he was the party candidate; that trumped all else. That has been changing. Like Zell Miller, a lot of people who've been D's all their lives have been voting more for R's precisely because they can no longer stomach what the D party has become. The same thing has happened/is happening with the R's, and it's driving a lot of discontent with Bush. He's gone way over the line on spending in many cases, and been far too willing to play the 'let us talk nice about people, no matter what' game, been too willing to compromise on things in order to get along. I understand that there's often compromise involved, but when you compromise on serious things just to get along, that is a big problem. It's why I dropped my membership in the NRA and joined the GOA; they're a lot less willing to play that game.

There's an example of the difference in the two sides when it comes to 2nd amendment rights.

FOR THE MOST PART, people fighting to preserve those rights acknowledge that those on the other side have good intentions; they have the wrong idea, but they do indeed want a good outcome. But most of the anti-gun ownership people seem to have a different idea; the NRA is an evil group that doesn't care if people die, as long as the protect the gun industry; gun owners are a bunch of racist fools who don't understand that guns are bad and we need to get rid of them; and the government will take care of you so you don't need a gun. It's the attitude that bothers me most, that same 'if you don't agree with us, you are either evil or a fool'. And whether it's about guns or everyday politics, I'm damn tired of it.