One Guy Opens His Eyes And Mind About The GOP
This was first published in April 2015
I recently heard from a guy who has been a Republican for 50 years. He said his name is James. While I cannot recall his exact words, the gist of what he told me was this: "I would occasionally read your blog posts because you were from Cleveland, my hometown, but I thought you were full of shit. Now I see how Republicans really are, and there are fascists in the GOP, big time, and you pointed this out long ago, and I'm ashamed to have been a Republican, so I no longer am. You were miles ahead of many people on this. I should have paid more attention to what you said, but I was in denial and I think many others are still in denial too. This is not the same Republican Party of my younger days of Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Rockefeller, or Reagan,* because they all tried to govern responsibly. This is a party trying to bring down the government and then step in to enforce some rule by the rich and the religious nuts, and I consider myself a Christian, maybe not a perfect Christian, but better than some of these ones in the GOP using the religion to promote hate. I can't keep denying the tremendous income gap, all the statistics show it's true. You were right all along about it."
Notice he didn't say he was a Democrat, but only that he was no longer a Republican, although maybe that's what he meant. So do you get this Democrats? You too have work to do.
I am humbled by this man saying I helped in his change of heart.
* Just to be clear, he was referring to Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and Ronald Reagan. Nelson Rockefeller served as governor of New York and as vice president. All of the others served as president. Rockefeller, and to some degree, Ford, were targets of nasty attacks by the growing right wing elements (I would call many of them "militants") within the Republican Party of those times. It foreshadowed what was to come later, as the influence of these extremist elements played a major role in the GOP, and still do, but to an even greater extent.
WORD HISTORY:
Tap-This is the noun meaning, "stopper, faucet,"^ and it is related to the form of the word "tip," meaning "end," as in "the tip of the pen." The ultimate origin of "tap" is uncertain, but Old Germanic had "tappan/tappon," the meaning of which seems to have had to do with "a tapered cylindrical shaped peg" (the relationship to "tip" is evident in the meaning). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "taeppa," which meant "tap, spigot," which were pegs driven into kegs so as to draw out the contents. The meaning has remained into the modern period, although the spelling eventually narrowed to just "tap." The verb form, meaning "to drive a tap into a keg," has the same roots, and its Old English form was "taeppian." The other Germanic languages have: German "Zapfen" (the primary meaning of which is "pine cone," from the cylindrical shape, but it also means, "bung, plug, stopper, cone"), Low German Saxon "Watertapp" (water tap) and "tappen" (verb meaning "to tap into, to breech"), Dutch has "tap" (spigot, plug, stopper),West Frisian "taapje" (used in the verb "oftappje," meaning "to tap into, to breech"), Icelandic "tappa" (stopper, plug), Swedish "tapp" (water tap, plug), Norwegian "tappe vann" (water tap).
^ The verb "tap," with the meaning, "to strike lightly," as well as the related noun form meaning "a light strike or hit," are from a different source.
I recently heard from a guy who has been a Republican for 50 years. He said his name is James. While I cannot recall his exact words, the gist of what he told me was this: "I would occasionally read your blog posts because you were from Cleveland, my hometown, but I thought you were full of shit. Now I see how Republicans really are, and there are fascists in the GOP, big time, and you pointed this out long ago, and I'm ashamed to have been a Republican, so I no longer am. You were miles ahead of many people on this. I should have paid more attention to what you said, but I was in denial and I think many others are still in denial too. This is not the same Republican Party of my younger days of Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Rockefeller, or Reagan,* because they all tried to govern responsibly. This is a party trying to bring down the government and then step in to enforce some rule by the rich and the religious nuts, and I consider myself a Christian, maybe not a perfect Christian, but better than some of these ones in the GOP using the religion to promote hate. I can't keep denying the tremendous income gap, all the statistics show it's true. You were right all along about it."
Notice he didn't say he was a Democrat, but only that he was no longer a Republican, although maybe that's what he meant. So do you get this Democrats? You too have work to do.
I am humbled by this man saying I helped in his change of heart.
* Just to be clear, he was referring to Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and Ronald Reagan. Nelson Rockefeller served as governor of New York and as vice president. All of the others served as president. Rockefeller, and to some degree, Ford, were targets of nasty attacks by the growing right wing elements (I would call many of them "militants") within the Republican Party of those times. It foreshadowed what was to come later, as the influence of these extremist elements played a major role in the GOP, and still do, but to an even greater extent.
WORD HISTORY:
Tap-This is the noun meaning, "stopper, faucet,"^ and it is related to the form of the word "tip," meaning "end," as in "the tip of the pen." The ultimate origin of "tap" is uncertain, but Old Germanic had "tappan/tappon," the meaning of which seems to have had to do with "a tapered cylindrical shaped peg" (the relationship to "tip" is evident in the meaning). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "taeppa," which meant "tap, spigot," which were pegs driven into kegs so as to draw out the contents. The meaning has remained into the modern period, although the spelling eventually narrowed to just "tap." The verb form, meaning "to drive a tap into a keg," has the same roots, and its Old English form was "taeppian." The other Germanic languages have: German "Zapfen" (the primary meaning of which is "pine cone," from the cylindrical shape, but it also means, "bung, plug, stopper, cone"), Low German Saxon "Watertapp" (water tap) and "tappen" (verb meaning "to tap into, to breech"), Dutch has "tap" (spigot, plug, stopper),West Frisian "taapje" (used in the verb "oftappje," meaning "to tap into, to breech"), Icelandic "tappa" (stopper, plug), Swedish "tapp" (water tap, plug), Norwegian "tappe vann" (water tap).
^ The verb "tap," with the meaning, "to strike lightly," as well as the related noun form meaning "a light strike or hit," are from a different source.
Labels: English, etymology, extremists, Fascism, Germanic languages, Republicans
posted by Randy at 6:35 AM
4 Comments:
good 4 u and good 4 him.
I think you have changed more minds than just this one man.
I am a lifelong Democrat but am considering voting Republican in 2016. Mainly, the issue is Israel and our current President's lack of support for it, which trickles down in the contempt of his administration. Otherwise, he has done an excellent job. I agree with the Dems on many issues, but there might be such a thing as too much an element of control - too much government. Hillary might get my vote but if Jeb Bush were the candidate, I would consider him, too. For the first time in a long time, I am on the fence.
Not enough govt when it comes to regulating big business. Too much business dominance.
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