I Need Reassurance....

[charlyvi]

Republicans will do ANYTHING to stay in power. They have shown me this by their actions during the Convention. Traditionally, both parties have let each other shine during this time; they have kept a low profile. Republicans have not done this. Then, Frist went to South Dakota to campaign against Dashell (sp?) which also broke with tradition. These actions tell me that they will lie, steal, cheat, do anything to remain in power. Repub corporate interests are dangling religion in front of the religious right; why not, they won't have to send their kids to schools where religion supercedes scientific fact. They will always be able obtain abortions if they need them. This, too, has me worried. These Republicans are a new breed; undemocratic, greedy, short visioned, as though they have never, NEVER, read the Constitution. As though they think only of their own present wants--not even their needs.

How do we fight against this and not become like them?

I NEED REASSURANCE PEOPLE!!!!

[BayouBengal07]

1. Wish I could help you

But I'm as worried as you are.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Tell the truth

I've been verballoy assaulted by freepers in a public forum-real time, not internet. I held my ground with facts politely and passionately stated, and I watched the faces of the folks who were listening. They were disgusted at the freeper's tirade, and some told me so afterwards. Talk to folks one on one, have the facts ready (with sources, if possible). Make sure new voters get to the polls on election day. That's what will win it for us.

[charlyvi]

3. Do You Think So?

I hope and pray that you are right. The thing that bothers me, though, is the way everyone seems to think freepers are in the majority. If this isn't true, will people really vote their conscience or will they vote freeper because they think most other people do? You know, the old theory that if a majority think it's true, there must be something to it.

[Worthless Teen]

5. Sigh

I live in Mechanicsville (outside of Richmond) and Bush stickers outnumber Kerry stickers at least 4:1...:( I'm afraid VA is just too conservative right now to be a viable blue state.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. I work in Harrison AR

which is considered freeper central in some circles. This part of AR hasn't elected a Dem to Congress for thirty years. Yet over and over again, I talk with folks that are disgusted with Bush and who plan to vote against him. I know some who will vote Libertarian (but none who plan to vote Nader), but most say they will vote Kerry. This includes everyone in my company, including my boss, who is a fundamentalist Christian (but who obviously uses his brain to think instead of aimlessly following a preacher).

[charlyvi]

9. Thanks, ayeshahaqqiqa,

That gives me some hope. It's easy to speak Democrat in Illinois, but in Arkansas and Alabama (where I am) it gets a little tricky.

[lazarus]

4. That's right

become your own media outlet, but do it calmly and with facts and politeness. That wins people over.

[charlyvi]

8. It's hard not to get strident

when you try to explain everything that bush* has screwed up in our country. Plus, I live in Alabama. It's really hard to present the Democratic side when there are so many religious fundamentalists here. I keep plugging away at it, though.

[lazarus]

11. I grew up in Alabama

I just left there two years ago. I know exactly what you're talking about.

It works.

Here's how: Is what Bush has done Christian in any way? Did Jesus prefer the rich and powerful, or the poor and downtrodden?

Keep going in that vein. Show them how unChristian Bush and his admin has been.

[charlyvi]

13. I'll try

They keep coming back to abortion, though. One issue--I keep trying to point out that they can vote Dem and fight abortion, if they want to, by joining or founding anti-abortion groups. Some of them, though, have been told in church that God wants Bush* to win--our country will fall apart if he doesn't. I think these are the ones that are probably beyond reach. What worries me, though, is how many of these people are there? B/C04 has been cultivating them.

[lazarus]

15. on abortion

You can play it two ways:

One: Mention that there is no real proscription in the Bible against abortion. The only mention of it:

Exodus 21:22-23 "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life."

Hosea 13:16 "Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up."

Alternatively, you can tell them the same thing we tell the extreme left (people like me): is one issue worth it? If Bush and the Republicans are truly anti-abortion, why haven't they done anything about it? They've got Congress, pass an amendment. The fact that they haven't is a big clue to their true focus - the rich.

But ask them further if that one issue makes up for all the unChristian things that BushCo does. Ask them if their acts are Christian, or just their words?

Throw some apostles at 'em:

Jas.2:14
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?"

Jas.2:17
"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

Jas.2:21-25
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rabab the harlot also justified by works? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

1 Pet.1:17
"The Father, who without pariality judges according to each one's work."

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. They are an old breed actually. Greedheads have existed forever

They are just trying to return the world to a feudal state. And we won't be ruling it alongside them, I can tell you.

--------------------------------------------------------
An open letter to John Kerry, John Edwards, and the DNC:
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/OpenLetter.htm

[indigobusiness]

10. You make a good point.... Nietzsche's famous warning:

He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you stare persistently into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you.
---Friedrich Nietzsche---


http://sludgereport.blogspot.com/

[charlyvi]

12. You take me back to college!

I was a philosophy minor (English major). Which leaves us with my original question---how do we defeat this evil threat to our America without becoming evil ourselves?

[indigobusiness]

16. Being cognizant of the danger

is the first step...and should serve as a constant reminder of who we are and what we oppose.

[barbaraann]

14. Not reassurance, but some hope...

One of my rabid rightwing brothers is going to vote for Nader instead of Bush this year. The reason is that HE was PERSONALLY damaged by corporate greed in his job and now he "gets" what it's like for other people. He was a Republican because he was empathy-challenged, basically. Perhaps I had a little to do with it through a few conversations, but I have to admit I'm not as good at converting dittoheads as some other people here.

This is a man who had TWO Bush signs in his yard in 2000, by the way.