Almost five years to the day (scroll down) I quit the Republican Party. And yes, you may send me an anniversary present via PayPal (hint: it’s to your right).
OK, where was I? In my post (the link is buried in the dot-com graveyard) I said:
In the spirit of the season, the Republican Party should do some serious spring cleaning because the stench up under the "big tent" with the likes of the CCC, David Duke, Confederate flag wavers and Bob Jones has become intolerable.
Personally, I need some fresh air.
I’m often asked whether I have any regrets. My response? Fuhgeddaboudit. I’m a registered independent (read: no party affiliation) but the air isn’t exactly clear. Still, it’s a lot fresher than when I attended meetings regularly with the sleaze master of the Wednesday Coalition or the odorous Tom DeLay.
While I have no regrets, black voters who cast their lot with President Bush must have felt some buyers’ remorse as they witnessed the spectacle of Bush and congressional Republicans, who voted to slash $20 billion from Medicaid, rush back to DC to “save” the most famous Medicaid patient Terri Schiavo.
“Medicaid insurance paid for a significant portion of Schiavo's costly medical bills,” wrote Earl Ofari Hutchinson. “Millions of poor and working class blacks are uninsured. They have little chance of getting the care she got. The GOP lawmakers that thundered the loudest for her rights slashed billions from the Medicaid health programs that would improve the quality of care for the poor.”
Black ministers in, say, Atlanta who are concerned about same-sex marriages should also raise their prophetic voices against Medicaid cuts that may cause Grady Memorial Hospital to close. If that happens, neither the uninsured nor insured members of their congregations will have access to the hospital’s diabetes or sickle cell centers. Health care providers in their houses of worship, including black physicians, are disproportionately impacted by Medicaid cuts.
Black folks who still think that the "Republican Party of Lincoln [that] has become a party of theocracy" offers a meaningful choice should do some spring cleaning of their own.
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