How the GOP Lost My Vote

After a resounding electoral defeat, in which voters in this once-red state rejected Republicans McCain, Schaffer, and Musgrave, the Colorado Republican Party will undoubtedly be asking themselves, “Why did we lose?”

I want to let them know that they lost the vote of many former supporters (including myself) because they have chosen to embrace the Religious Right.

I voted Republican in 1996, 2000, and 2004. I believe in limited government, individual rights, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, and the right to keep and bear arms - positions that one normally associates with Republicans.

But I didn’t vote for a single Republican in 2008. I’ve become increasingly alienated by the Republicans” embrace of the religious “social conservative” agenda, including attempts to ban abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage.

The Founding Fathers correctly recognized that the proper function of government is to protect individual rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But freedom of religion also implies freedom *from* religion. As Thomas Jefferson famously put it, there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state. Public policy should not be based on religious doctrines.

Read the entire post at denverpost.com.

Candidates Avoiding Hot Buttons for Social Issues

From the Detroit Free Press;

As much as some of their most ardent supporters might wish otherwise, neither Republican John McCain nor Democrat Barack Obama has been anxious to make the 2008 election a referendum on hot-button social issues.

Although they both argue the choice between them is clear, they still would prefer voters do their choosing based on Iraq, tax policy, oil drilling, judgment, character or one of the other stump speech staples.

When it comes to wedge issues — guns, gay rights, abortion, affirmative action, research using human embryos — McCain and Obama mostly have tried to avoid public engagement.

Still, by happenstance and by choice, McCain and Obama have found themselves increasingly ensnared by the culture wars.

The biggest choice, of course, being McCain’s decision to name Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin simultaneously has fired up the culturally conservative Republican base and ignited a backlash from the secular side of the Democratic Party.

So — like it or not — the McCain/Obama records on social hot buttons are getting a thorough examination.