we believe that the majority does NOT have the right to exercise absolute control over the lives of a minority

However the reverse is true as well. The minority does not have that right either. Which is your position.

Regardless of whether Christians always say it or not….it is in fact the truth. Neither side owns this right. I will agree 100 percent with that. I will agree that Christians do not have the right to tell anyone what they should or should not believe.

I will also conceede that Gay rights Activists should not have that right as well. Therefore that leaves us at an impasse.

This is why the Government should not be in the business of legislating morality.

But it must in order to insure Domestic Tranquility.

The solution is not states rights. I refuse to put this on the states. We did this before which created a civil war. I am therefore very much opposed to putting such emotionally charged issues with the states.

Alas despite my better judgement there are just some Issues that must be addressed by the government to insure that this nation continues on in a positive direction.

Do you not see JimS that this is exactly what your side is doing to those on the other side of the isle. You are attempting to force upon us YOUR VIEWS of morality and tell us we will like it because its right and enlightened.

It is a warning to those Party leaders who continue to allow social conservatives to define the GOP by a set of stringent and divisive policy positions on sexuality and beginning-and-end-of-life issues. The days of these social conservatives’ dominance in our party are numbered. They are welcome in the Party, but their influence will progressively subside

This was in his first letter which was amended and changed that the post was addressed to. In this context I stand by my assertion that he wants to take away the rights and beliefs of those EVIL christians and hand those same rights and beliefs to gays and baby killers.

He brought it up specifically in his letter. I responded to the this fact specifically.

I stand by that. That is not even about religion but about PRINCIPAL. That is what he was writing. Posting and advocating based upon the above in his first letter which was then edited out.

What I have said, continue to say and will say until I die is that the Religious right rose up in direct challenge to the Gay rights and abortion rights activists who were demanding of this country their version of MORALITY that is in direct contravention to what Religious people of many stripes believe.

I believe and continue to believe that the left/liberals have only one course of action open to them. Remove GOD from America by any and all means necessary in order to get their GODLESS AGENDA passed. They do this with the strong help of the ACLU and a secularist approach to the constitution.

Once they have neutralized the Religious Right then they can force upon America THEIR version of Morality.

This is the most hypocritical approach to government I have ever seen. Christians are evil for apparently influencing law makers to not give in to GAY rights activism and attempting to instill their version of morality on America. Yet conversely the Left are saints for doing the exact same thing. They are wonderfully enlightened people for demanding that we have Gay rights, Abortion, Porn, legalized drugs etc. and the rest of America WHICH by the way is a majority or else it would have already been law….is supposed to like it.

Sorry your dog dont hunt….this has been my argument and will continue to be my argument. It has nothing to do with the PEOPLE themselves, but everything to do with the MOVEMENT….The two are very different things entirely.

For your information I believe Gay people are no better or no worse then any other man, woman or child in America. It is a very small fraction of what defines them. This for me has never been about Gays and their private life styles. It has always been about the movement in general trying to force upon me their version of Morality while rendering MINE inconsequential.

This is exactly what Pete was and is calling for in his letter.

Somebody,

You are the one who wrote the following:

They don’t act the way you want them too then we are going to defeat them and take back the party from those evil Christians and hand it to those wonderful Gays and baby killers.

And this one as well:

There is no room for Christianity in his newly defined party and here he is making it clear.

These posts make it quite clear that you are defining Christianity to mean socially conservative, anti-choice and anti-gay rights people. They are your words and not the only places you’ve posted things that make it clear that this is what you are defining as being a Christian, excluding those who attend church and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior but don’t think that means you must share Pat Robertson’s or James Dobson’s view of the world.

It is not your right to have your beliefs that I disagree with, it is the right you attempt to claim to force everyone else to live by them that I take a stance against. I also contend that giving gays the right to not be fired or the right to have legally recognized relationships is not treading on the rights of conservative Christians while denying them those rights on the basis of religiously based beliefs does infringe on their rights. Representation does not mean the right to stomp on the rights of a minority because your religion disapproves of their existence. You obviously disagree.

JIm equally you prove my point.

IT is your way or the highway. A massive bloc of Americans who have values that do not correspond with YOUR values is relegated to bigotry. Is not your militant stance against OUR BELIEFS based in BIGOTRY?

You know nothing about me. I know nothing about you. But I am trying to make the point that people believe this. Right or wrong that is what they believe and they represent a HUGE portion of this country. To relegate them to the trash bin and to null and void their reasonable expectations of REPRESENTATION in this country is BIGOTRY at its finest.

He writes that

Your right I object to this letter and you and the Athiest lefts attempt at trashing religion in America or as they put it…..Take your religion and practice it in private.

Let’s face it, this is bigotry at its finest. The assumption that those who do not share his particular view of Christianity and its role in a racially and religiously diverse nation is automatically a leftist and an atheist. They are not claiming their right to live as they see fit according to their beliefs, rather they are “trashing” the beliefs of Somebody and his fellow believers.

Am I missing something or would Somebody be happier if the U.S. were run more along the lines of modern Iran? Just look at the post by MvdG on Iran’s “Second Cultural Revolution”. The force of the state making all citizens follow the rules of a particular view of the country’s dominant religion. Sounds like Somebody’s ideal government to me.

Your right I object to this letter and you and the Athiest lefts attempt at trashing religion in America or as they put it…..Take your religion and practice it in private.

Your letter is a fascist statement of principal for a party that YOU want to run with your own set of rules and values that mirror the democratic party.

My grown up summation is this. Take this letter and post it on GOP sites where you will get the proper review, rather then posting it here where a great vast majority will stroke your ego and tell you ….Oh good job on being a “Moderate”

I’m sorry Pete. I’m not going to stroke your ego for a letter that is obviously designed to trash the values of 2/3rds of the Republican party. To relegate to the trash bin the values millions and millions hold dear because you do NOT.

Because there is contention on Gay rights, Abortion, Gun control, and other social issues we should just surrender our values because

YOU ARE RIGHT AND WE ARE WRONG????

Thats MODERATION????

I don’t know what to say, but “grow up” comes to mind.

I’m not sure any do. Paul talks a good game but seems inflexible when it comes to abortion and similar issues; plus there are those seemingly racist comments of his, that have been written about previously, here and elsewhere.

McCain: I have long respected him, but I think he’s lost sight of an approach to foreign policy that can be both strong and flexible. If it weren’t for their foreign policy stands, McCain and Rudy would be great candidates. Unfortunately, I don’t think either truly embraces what Kate Whitman wrote in her book, excerpted in my letter.

I would challenge anyone to point to anywhere in this blog that even remotely hints that I have said the government should regulate what goes on in the bedroom.

As much as I have NOT advocated legislating bedroom values the LEFT has indeed been active in trying to legislate GAY rights INTO America.

I am simply opposed to that. I am not opposed to Gay people. I do not want to torture them, put them in concentration camps or anything sinister. I just want equal time. If they are to have their own laws then as a Christian I want equal laws.

I want laws that say
“thou shalt not make fun of Christians.”
Thou shalt not abuse christians or kill them in anger….you know its a crime to hate a christian so much that if you murder one we are going to kill you sooooooo bad……..
thou shalt not prohibit Christians from having sex in styles other then the missionary style.
thou shalt not conspire to make being a Christian a mockery or the BUTT of any jokes.
All Christians shall be hired based upon Religiousosity and will be administered the Religousosity test as per the requirements set forth in a new Amendment to be voted into law asap.
All Christians shall have a right to a free parking spot at the Walmart supercenter.
It shall the the duty of all Christians to inform you that they have been in personal contact with God and that its okay They know what they are doing.
All Christians shall be exempt from paying income taxes.
All Christians shall in effect be free from obeying any law that ordinary citizens have to obey…..Oh wait thats the one for Congress.
All Christians who are gay will in effect recieve double coupons at Safeway on Tuesdays and Triple Coupons on Sundays.

If the conservative Christians continue to dominate the party, the Democrats will have no trouble defeating them, because libertarians, moderates and independents will either stay home or cross over.

The GOP will never be a big tent party with constituents like Somebody who think the Gov’t needs to legislate our bedroom behavior for us and put God back in the public square.

Somebody represents the reason your valiant attempt is doomed to failure. He is the modern Republican party. Arrogant. Self-righteous. Certain that their fundamentalist version of Christianity is the only real version.

You and those who agree with your viewpoints are the minority with no hope of regaining influence for a very long time if ever again. It represents the reason that I quit voting for any Republicans long ago and didn’t bother switching my registration back to Independent after I’d registered as a Democrat to be able to vote in a primary many years ago. Any moderate Republican in office nowadays only represents one thing, a politician with virtually no influence in their party and someone who can give the Republican leadership the body count they need to give the current leadership more power.

Rudi Guillani believes in abortion, Gun Control and Gay rights, been married umpteen times and is the perfect candidate to lead your charge up DEMOCRAT HILL.

In contrast. Hillary Clinton is pretty much a Republican in that she has way more leanings towards conservative values then does Guillani.

Now here comes Pete with his letter asking the Republicans to embrace the Democratic Social agenda and the libertarian economic agenda. While conversely Hillary is about a conservative approach to government.

So what happens in this flux. You will see the old guard southern democrats rejoin their party they left under Jimmy Carter and rejoin a party that is led by Hillary who is actually Hawkish and Neoconish on foreign policy.

The result. The flip flopping of parties. Republicans embrace abortion, gay rights, gun control and lose the Religious right, while the old guard democrats of the south rejoin the conservative, neoconish Hillary and bring with them the Religious right who was abandoned by the Conservatives.

Thus you have an equivalent of what happened in the 30′s when the Democrats took over the Republicans New Deal or when LBJ handed the south to the Republicans by signing the civil rights bill.

Flip flopping of positions. In the end it will be the same landscape just different names.