Republicans: Why do you deserve my vote?

Before I start this entry, I would like to take a moment to remember the 9/11 tragedy and its victims during, and after the event.

9/11 had to be one of the most surreal experiences of my life, topped only by the deaths of my parents the 1+ year prior to the event. In fact, 9/11 came exactly 1 year and 10 days after my fathers death in 2000. I remember being in a deep depressive fog that I just could not shake. Due to that depression, I did not awake that day until after the 2nd plane had hit.

When I turned on my television set (it was already on CNN) I just recall being confused and dumbfounded, but I must admit that much of that day is still a blur to me. I can’t sit here and recount the exact second I heard about it, nor my visceral reaction; other than it was the ultimate What The F–k moment. While immensely shocked, I was strangely void of emotion. It was when I witnessed a female reporter struggling to contain her emotions that it all began to sink it.

What can I say? I am good for having delayed reactions. After the levees broke in New Orleans, it wasn’t until the telethon (where Kanye West made Mike Myers squirm, and Chris Tucker eyes pop out of its sockets) that I broke down. Of course, with Katrina, I had my own personal reasons for why it was even more heart wrenching than it would have been normally. I’m sure I will share that at some point.

Meanwhile, I still have my main entry to get to where I ask the question: Republicans, why do you deserve our vote?

I wonder if the republican party realizes that, just because the democrats got voted into office, it doesn’t mean that everyone who voted for them think that they are perfect? It’s not like we are all happy with everything that they have done, (or have not done for that matter…) But, here’s my ultimate inquiry: When your only other real option is the Republican Party… why in the world would any sane, rational, informed individual vote for them?

I hear people talking about voting the democrats out of office in 2010 because they didn’t “do what they promised” and it’s clear that they aren’t really thinking things through. That they are just in the heat of the moment… (I mean, talk about the desire for instant gratification.) But, when it comes down to actually voting, why would the public, as a whole, trust the party that was at the helm when our economy tanked? When 9/11 hit? (”We kept you safe for 8 years,” my eye.) A party who, for the 8 years, did nothing to even attempt reform healthcare?

Why should we trust a party that has fallen back on their previous tactics of scaring people into voting for them? Why should we trust a party that doesn’t actually put forth any solutions, but simultaneously say NO to anything that is proposed by the opposing party? Particularly when it helps we, the little people?

These are questions that the republicans should be asking themselves, and what we the American people should demand them to answer. Why should people who are truly open to voting for either party WANT to vote republican? Do they realize that they aren’t gaining new supporters with their fear mongering? That they are just pandering to a very loud, yet very minority base? Sarah Palin referred to them as the “real America” during the campaign. Yes Sarah, they are real Americans. The real small group of Americans who will swallow anything that she and the rest of her colleagues tell them. I have a newsflash for these “real” people:  Just because more people may be unhappy with the president than before, it doesn’t mean that those  same unhappy people are daft enough to support the republican party come election time.

Best case scenario, for the republicans, is that they simply don’t vote at all. Worst case scenario, is they scare even more people into going out to vote AGAINST them. Like me! I stood in line four hours to vote the democrats into power last election, and I’ll do it again!

What people have to realize is that it’s early, not even a full year into Obama’s first term. While the republicans may feel that they are winning a couple of tiny battles here and there,  I predict that these underhanded tactics are going to come back to haunt their party. Americans are fickle and irrational at times, but once time passes and things DO improve, we will have forgotten about the fright-wing and their desperate antics. And… in the end, they will be even worse off than they are now. Much to my glee.

As of now, I know that there is no way under the sun I could ever consider voting even one republican into office. So, Republicans, how do go about changing my mind?  What are YOU going to do to better the country I live in? When will the “little people” that you step on to serve your masters begin to matter?

Why do you deserve my vote?