Confessions of a Repentant Republican - A Remarkable Essay

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/111705a.html

Confessions of a Repentant Republican

By William Frey, M.D.
November 17, 2005

Editor’s Note: As George W. Bush and Dick Cheney ratchet up the "you're with us or you're with the terrorists" rhetoric, it's important to remember the American principles that are at stake in this momentous political battle.

What Bush and Cheney have in mind is a permanent restructuring of the U.S. constitutional system under an authoritarian executive who can waive any law and any freedom for anyone he deems an "enemy combatant" or a "bad guy." Dissent will be dealt with harshly through a right-wing media built to destroy the reputations of anyone who resists.

Yet there are positive signs, too, of a bipartisan uprising of Americans who care deeply about the principles that have guided this democratic republic for more than two centuries. As representative of this trend, we are publishing this guest essay by William Frey, a founder of Republicans for Humility who seeks to return his party and the U.S. government to a more traditional path:

I supported George W. Bush in the presidential election in 2000, believing then that he best reflected my love for America and for our tradition of liberty. I supported the war in Afghanistan. In March of 2003, I believed that the invasion of Iraq was justified based upon pre-war revelations presented to Congress and to the American people. Accordingly, the indictments contained herein apply, first and foremost, to myself.

Many Americans whom I know and love, including many current supporters of President Bush, remain conflicted over both his ultimate intentions in Iraq as well as domestic curtailment of civil liberties.

Many have given the benefit of the doubt to President Bush, and, in a misdirected spirit of unity, have supported, as did I, Administration policies that conflict with our essential values.

This essay explores many of the issues that led me personally to the recognition that the policies I was supporting in Iraq were not consistent with the justifications made for the invasion in the spring of 2003, that implicit in our post-invasion actions was the goal of permanent occupation, which would ensure endless war and the resultant degradation of our liberty, our security, and our moral authority.

For me, recognizing that I could no longer support the President for whom I voted, and the occupation of a land we had invaded, remains personally painful.

I have learned that while it is difficult to admit being wrong, such recognition is a prerequisite for redemptive action, necessary both for individual growth and for the healing of our nation.

It is in this spirit that I submit these reflections.

(snip)

Full Text : http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/111705a.html

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After the hell the bushbots have inflicted on this country for the last five years? Thw bushbots have pretty well destroyed this country and they now want to post a smiley to show they see the error in their ways? Unreal.

it's not surprising to me that many people DID believe the president . . . that's how they were raised . . . so when they finally discover the truth (and the lies) and change their position, I welcome it . . .

Bush is the sociopathic, shiftless, entitled son of a rich man, and it shows. His purpose and his complete lack of character has always been plainly obvious. So I give very little credit to anyone who is only now beginning to see the light. I can only express amazement that it took so long to recognize a bum, and I continue to be very uneasy about living in a country with such a high percentage of dolts who have used their right to vote to punch holes in the boat we're all living in. While I welcome their belated conversion, I have no doubt that they'll eagerly switch their allegiance to some newly packaged version of the same fascist drivel as soon as the corporatists tire of Bush and bring out a shiny new replacement designed to push their hot-buttons and bring them back into the fold. They are far too impressionable; they can be led to follow almost anyone or anything. Their newfound recognition of reality provides no consolation to me. They're simply ripe for the picking by a new demagogue.

I will NEVER understand it

Mr. Frey puts forth such a reasoned, intelligent, objective analysis of why he can no longer support the murderous man-child, that I can't understand how anyone so intelligent could ever have been duped into voting for this Ted Bundy of a president.

Perhaps a good place to direct those who make similar confessions to us or to friends?

http://www.republicansforhumility.com/

They may not be ready for DU at that point, but maybe this will meet them exactly where they are and help move them beyond that - on the road to personal, noational & universal recovery.

These folks need a welcoming & understanding place to go. Otherwise, what do you think they'll do? We need them in our ranks just as much as we need those who were never taken in by the lies.

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i'll try to watch for that in the future.. :hide:

he's left the GOP and is not going back.

Some quotes from the article:

that one of these people has finally recognized and elucidated, point by point, what has been nakedly obvious to most of us from the day the shrub took office. But it isn't easy. The damage has been done, and the damage is vast. Further, it doesn't take a hell of a lot of either courage or wisdom to change your mind when everybody else is doing it at the same time. In my view, this gentleman can be commended on his recent honesty, but not much else.

I'm not happy that Murtha has only come out publically about his "sense of things" that he's had for over two years, and a list i dare say of the major DP Leadership (mostly the DLC rulers of the party) cannot even manage to say the obvious at this juncture. Even Kerry offered repeated mealy mouth response, in the days before Murtha's announcement.

At this point, I'm for rounding up the 'day late - dollar short' but 'gets it now' enlightened souls and broadcasting more widley and freely the points in his article.

Thanks for posting this. A definite must read to pass on to hard headed friends and family.

Sorry, but let's call these folks what they are: brainwashed.
They must be approached and treated as such.
Good for them for finally seeing the light, but don't let them near sharp objects, balconies, household cleaners or our Federal Government!

...even more difficult to confess it in a public forum.

These are the moderate Republicans that have disappeared over the last dozen years. They let their party get hijacked by the fascists and haven't wanted to admit it was as bad as we said. We need them to take down the very fascists that they let take control of their party.

Having said that, I am impressed with the intellectual rigor and linking that Dr. Frey has brought to the discussion. True, it may me too little and too late, but it is welcomed none the less. Plus he brings credentials that will let other Republicans listen to what he says.

Yes, it is hard to forgive; but it will be unforgivable not to take every possible assistance in stopping this criminal regime.

"Even the corrosive influence of a coarsened public dialogue dominated by personal invective and focus-group tested, predigested talking points is not sufficient to blind observant Americans to the dissonance between these actions and our values. The repercussions of perpetual war, unwanted occupation of a foreign land, a reviled America abroad, and permanent erosions of our liberties have rendered the rents in the fabric of our democracy all too apparent. Rationalization for such egregious departures from our values can be accomplished only with the generous use of denial and self-deception."

"Patriotic Americans can no longer afford the hollow comforts of blind self-deception, nor the transient respite of continued silence."

Excellent article. Excellent post. Recommended.