Thursday, April 30, 2009

WHY I AM - AND WILL REMAIN - A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN!

I will grant you that I am a cradle Republican - being blessed with two ultra intelligent parents who did not teach me ideology but rather imparted to me a great deal of common sense. Granted we moved in right-leaning circles of friends, but my mother's entire family were left-wing Democrats (in fact I suspect that my Uncle John, a naive man who was easily duped, was actually a Communist, may he rest in peace).

My reasoning is that even though it is considered more "cool" to be a Democrat - especially by other Democrats, being a Republican is the harder choice which requires one to be observant, engaged and intelligent about the state of the world and to possess a certain degree of courage. It's not easy to admit to being a Republican and be the focus of the automatic scorn doled out by those tolerant Democrats. But I believe in the things that being a Republican stands for. Being a Republican means being willing to make the hard choices and to actually stand for something real. And as a Catholic conservative, I loathe and despise the idea of abortion. To me it is just the refuge of the terminally slutty!

I don't believe that a person can get something for nothing. There is no free lunch. Hard work is the only way to make your way in this world - unless you were fortunate enough to be born with a silver tea service in your mouth (awkward, that), in which case I do follow the dictum that "for those to whom much has been given, much is expected" in other words, don't sit on your big fat trust fund and do nothing - use your leisure and access to make a positive difference in the world. But I digress.

I was raised in a household populated by voracious readers. And nothing was held back from me in terms of whatever was on my parents' bookshelves (although my mother had a big problem with me reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" when I was just 4 years old). Whatever I read, I could discuss with my parents. I could ask them anything and, if they weren't sure of the answer, they would say so - and then go look it up. I was never patted on the head and told to just run along and play with my dolls - not a pasttime that interested me particularly. I had the great outdoors, my animals (including a skunk named "Flower" and a cocker spaniel named "Freckles" as well as a roly poly terrier named "Bouncer" - I was not the most original child on this planet), plus my pet rooster who lived in the apple tree outside my bedroom window. His name was Oscar Pepper and where I got that I'm sure I cannot tell you. My father was totally opposed to Grimm's Fairy Tales thinking them way too violent and so, I got the Bible for bedtime stories (mom put the kibosh on "Songs of Solomon" however) and Shakespeare and Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I also was exposed to H.L. Mencken and to my parents' love of clever sarcastic quips. In my childhood home, you had to be quick-witted to survive! When asked a serious question, one had best come up with a serious, well-thought-out response. It was not uncommon for my parents to ask me, quite seriously, exactly what line of thought had led to whatever damnfool thing I did just like every normal kid! Consequently, as I grew into a young woman, my automatic impulses led me to a conservative point of view. I had been raised to believe that every action of every person, or governmental entity, had consequences. I grew up believing that the less government pokes its incompetent head into the affairs of the citizenry, the better off we'd all be. Like George Washington, I grew to believe that the Least amount of government was the best amount of government.

With apologies to Pat Curley, I do not believe that President Obama occupies the Oval Office legitimately, but there isn't thing one we can do about it except deal with it like adults. In fact, I think that's the biggest different between Dems and Republicans - we're the grown-ups, they are the fractious, tantrum throwing children! I'm 67 year old - way too old to be throwing a tantrum - and with my blood pressure problems, risking my health! Besides, I could never belong to a political party that honors Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid! I'm incapable of that level of cynicism!

7 comments:

B....... said...

God bless you Gayle.......

Ryan Bigleman said...

So you grew up like most people in America, myself included (yawn), and that's supposed to make someone into a foaming at the mouth partisan Republican? I missed that somewhere. Please do tell how President Obama does not legitimately occupy the office(elected by a landslide in both the popular vote and the electoral college) and former President Bush(appointed by the Supreme Court) did.

God you are a joke.

Ryan Bigleman said...

A real serious question, as I am a Utah resident. Are you Gayle Miller, the wife of the late Larry H. Miller, Utah Jazz owner? Just curious.

Gayle Miller said...

No relation to Larry H. Miller. Miller is the third most common last name in the U.S.

There's no "foaming at the mouth" Republican on this site. There was NO landslide that elected this non-native-born American to the presidency. That is a fiction promulgated by the in-the-bag for Obama leftwing press (NYTimes, LA Times, etc.). I'm surprised that someone from Utah doesn't know better - most people I've met from Utah are very very intelligent!

Ryan Bigleman said...

I realize Miller is a common surname, I just wondered if the combination of "Gayle" (same spelling), same age, and super hardcore right wing politics was more than a coincidence.

President Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Hawaii is and was in fact a state of the Union in 1961.

Here's one of thousands of links to his birth certificate.

http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/graphics/birth.jpg

The simple fact that I'm arguing with you over something like this demeans me.

Even believing the hint of an inclination that a major party candidate would get so far as a mention on NPR (let alone become President of the United States) without something that can be verified in ten minutes by calling Hawaii, makes me wonder why I wasted my time coming to this stupid site.

You are more than just a joke. You may be the biggest joke on the internet. You soil conservative thinkers that you try to help.

Gayle Miller said...

Hawaii will not release any information about Obama's birth certificate. snopes.com is run by Google which has enormous and verifiable ties to the Democratic Party.

Why do you come to my blog if you have such disdain for me? Are you masochistic or just a walking, talking asswipe?

pianogirl said...

BRAVO, Gayle!!!!!