A Common Misconception

It's Sunday afternoon and my son is entertaining several friends for his 12th birthday party. They're having a blast with their video game "tournament" and have just finished eating pizza and junk food. Needless to say, they are either getting ready to crash hard or, bounce off the walls.

During the pizza phase, the "Chuck Norris" jokes started flying and out came my son's 4 page list of "Norris-isms". One of his friends started telling one about Chuck Norris and President Bush, but prefaced it by saying that he "knows we support Bush, but...".

This is from an 11 year old. His parents are very liberal democrats. They know my political affiliation as I ran for office locally last year. I am a Republican, and proud of it.. The idea that we were Bush supporters just because we are Republicans had to come from somewhere.

This is the pre-conception that most liberals seem to have toward Republicans, whether in local races or national races...that our entire party is defined by the actions of one person, namely, our President, George W. Bush.

They couldn't be farther from the truth. To say that we are defined as a party because of who our leaders are is preposterous. We are defined by our principles, our religious beliefs, by our community service, by our patriotism and by our traditional family values.

Now, don't get me wrong...I voted for a Bush 4 times, twice for his father and twice for "Dub'ya". I also voted for Bob Dole. I didn't vote for Bush because he was George Bush, I voted for him because he is a Republican and, as a Republican, could not get behind any of the other presidential candidates fielded to me in the general elections. I supported our presidents during times of national crisis and did not support some of the issues that they gave to us, such as Bush Sr. raising taxes after promising not to, and Dub'ya's immigration policies.

I also supported Jim Matthews, before he became a democrat and gave away the courthouse.

I do not know who I like for president, as the race for the Republican nomination is far too watered down right now to commit myself to any one candidate. I do, however know this....I will support a Republican in November.

I wish people would understand and respect that I support Republicans because I am a Republican, not because of what their name is. It is because of their values, which, in most cases, match my own values.

B.