An open letter to the national GOP from the (theoretically) undecided voter

Although I don't blog about politics very often, if you read this beast with any regularity, you likely know that I lean reasonably hard in a libertarian direction. Not on everything, mind you. I am more environmentally left-leaning than most libertarians, and I really do think government has valid roles to play -- just not in nearly as many areas as my Dem friends do.

But, events of this week being what they are -- you know, that cretinous fuckstick Republican candidate for the US Senate in Missouri (who I refuse to name because he doesn't need his name in print ever again) who said ... not hinted or intimated or maybe got misunderstood about, mind you; nope, he *said* that women who get "legitimate[ly]" raped will biologically terminate the pregnancy with some super-secret girl trick -- I have to make one thing really clear. So hang on.

Hi there, national Republican party. You actually *could* get my vote sometimes. Whether it be for president, NJ governor, US Senate or US House. I am not a liberal on all things. I am not a conservative on all things. I believe, very generally speaking, that freedom and liberty -- in other words, letting people make their own choices in life without government interference as long as no one else gets hurt -- ought to be paramount considerations in every single law that gets enacted. Indeed, I think there are just way too many freaking laws on the books, and I would welcome higher-ups from any party who would take a stand that we need across-the-board legal reform, and, yes, that includes the tax code.

As Penn Jillette says (and I am paraphrasing), "No one in this country knows for sure if he or she is a criminal, and that is ridiculous."

So really.... You could get my vote sometimes. I truly am not all wound up about the tax rates that millionaires pay and I really do agree with you on many economic-liberty issues

Except, you never will. Not, at least, until you, from the highest, loftiest points of your party, make it really clear that said cretinous fuckstick and his ilk are not representative of your party's views on personal liberty.

I don't like government in my bedroom or my wallet, but when the chips are down, I will exercise my Second Amendment rights (you know, the one amendment *all* of you support no matter what?), even faster to defend my bedroom than my wallet. Why, oh why, do you have to have in your *national* platform an anti-choice stance that is just fucking Byzantine?

See, I could even tolerate -- not support, but tolerate -- if, on a national level, you just said that choice related to abortion rights is a state issue. Roe v. Wade is, to say the least, an imperfectly-written decision that, from my lawyerly perspective, reaches close to the right result for muddled, nearly indecipherable reasons. It is not The Finest Moment of Constitutional Scholarship in the history of our republic. If that were your position, I would then, at least, not think that you were all champing at the bit on every level to invade bedrooms.

But, for godsakes, why does your *national* platform on this issue -- which really is a fundamental issue of personal liberty, whether you want to admit it or not -- claim to support a nationwide ban on every single possible abortion?

I hope you get the point of all this: at least theoretically, I could be your Undecided Voter. I could be that guy who fits in that very very small percentage of people who haven't decided if they are voting for Obama or Romney.

But then there is that Missouri fuckstick, and his stupid mouth, and the fact that what came out of his stupid mouth is in complete agreement with your platform.

You lose me. Immediately. I can't vote for your party at a national level while this complete disrespect of personal liberty continues. You go on and on and on about economic liberty -- and I often agree with you when you do -- but when you want to invade all of our bedrooms, the deal is off. Completely.

Come back when you have a new idea on that front. I can't even consider voting for one of your national-level candidates until then. You are backwards thugs who threaten my freedom, and the freedom of all of us.

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