Ronald Reagan is dead.

That may be a shocking revelation to many, but the Gipper has left the building. And for the first time since his death in 2004, we can finally send his molested political ideology with him. I admire President Reagan, but it’s time for us to move on.

As I joyfully watch the current Republican party begin their long journey through the wilderness, I am struck by my thoughts of Ronald Reagan. He was MY President…the man who was in charge through the greater years of my youth. I trusted him, I admired him, I felt safer with him and I will always feel a bit angry when those bastards went after him during the Iran-Contra hearings. He was the perfect leader for the perfect days of my youth. Maybe I’m just sentimental, but he deserves his face on a coin or a bill.

But, the Gipper has passed, and he can now take his politics – or the current, perverted version – with him.

This past election has created more than its fair share of historical significance. Undeniable. But one thing many of us are witnessing is the death of an ideology. We watched a political party fall from the tree of America this November, and it was well overdue. What was once was bright and colorful, is now brittle, frail and ready to be added to the compost heap. It’s time to rake the leaves, prune the tree, and move forward into the coming spring. They had it coming, and Ronnie must be rolling over in his grave.

But, before we look forward, we must look back. What happened? Where did it all go wrong?

Ronald Reagan was the perfect leader for America and the world in the 1980′s. He was gilded by the age of McCarthyism and the very real threat of communism. He was elected at a time when an untested, brilliant-minded Democratic President (!) just couldn’t get anything done. He came in and restored a country to economic stability and a new place as the shining city on the hill. He fought the evil empire, and he won.

The amazing ideological victory for Ronald Reagan was his ability to turn the fight against the Soviet Union and communism into a moral battle. He was a very conservative, God-fearing President, and he brought his faith with him to the White House. He used it to rally his country behind a common enemy. This enemy was real, it was foreign and it had nuclear weapons. We believed and we trusted him…and honestly, we didn’t have any reasons not to. And you know what? We won.

The way politics work; the party of record will always take what has been successful recently, and try and apply it to new problems. It has been this way for generations. The Republican Party took the ideology of Reagan and applied it to everything they stood for. This worked for a while, but with a change in times come a change in the challenges. Eric Hoffer once said, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” This is what has happened to the Reagan ideology under the modern the Republican Party. Under George H.W. Bush, it became a business, then under the Gingrich-led congress, and, eventually, under George W. Bush, it became the corrupt racket that it is (was).

The mistakes came not exclusively in the Reagan philosophy itself, but in the way it was applied to different problems in a different time. In the 80′s we all had a common enemy, and a common goal. ANYONE could get behind the fight against communism. But after 1988, the world changed…literally! Cold war philosophies work during the cold war, but when the world changes, so must the way we govern.

Over the next two decades, the Republican Party used this moral battle to fight on a number of fronts. They fought big government (while still growing the government), the environment, abortion, liberalism and Bill Clinton. The problem was, in turning all of these issues into moral battles, they alienated people. It’s one thing to use morals against communism – a lifeless, Godless political ideology of evil – but it’s something entirely different to use the same tactics against your own citizens and their beliefs.

Out of this culture came the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s of the world, a group of ghouls hell-bent on propagating hate and destroying all that was unclean and unholy – in their own minds. The witch hunting and culture wars that we have seen over the past eight years have shred the very fabric that Reagan wove. This is where the Republicans and their hit-men greatly underestimated America. It worked for a while, and it was given new life when 9/11 hit. But you can only create fear and loathing for only so long. Even when you find a new common enemy – terrorism – the Republicans botched it. The GOP had gotten so used to creating fear to win battles, we turned our fear-mongering towards the world, and one of its largest religions. The new war is not a cold war, it’s a holy war. And now the world views America much differently. So much for being the city on the hill.

Demonization is no way to win elections or trust in your own people, at least not in the long term. That was not what Reagan had intended when he brought his moral fabric to the office. In his speech at the 1992 GOP Convention, he said, “And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts.” That sounds a lot like the newly elected President, not the party of Reagan!

What the GOP has done over the past 20 years is destroy the very thing that inspired them. They turned it into a racket, and they are now being punished for it. Reagan inspired people, built a trust and a renewed sense of pride in America. This ideology created an entire generation of political thought, but now it’s played out its course. A new direction was charted on November 4th, and it will usher in a new generation of political thought. The irony is it was formed on much the same foundation set forth by Reagan – youth, hope, change and a better tomorrow.

Rest in peace Mr. President. We’ll take it from here.

Telling a Republiscum or Democrap that I’m 31 years old and have never voted is like telling them that I am a backwoods communist with terrorist ties hell-bent on destroying America as we know it. At least I actually hear something that both parties agree on.

After declaring my non-voting demon status, I then get the all to familiar, yawn-educing, cries of:

“If you don’t vote, you can’t have an opinion!”

Thanks for stripping me of my right to formulate an opinion, communists! In all reality, I have opinions, and I have a right to have them. It’s my opinions that have led me to not vote. I make my voice heard by letting people know full well why I don’t vote. I’m not a passive non-voter by any means. So, I’ll offer those opinions that millions of non-voting Americans share that, maybe, will help you die-hard voters understand and soften your tone about it. (All 5 of you who may stumble on this article)

Then I’ll share why, for the first time in my 13 years of voter eligibility, I registered to vote this year.

I do take a little out of George Carlin’s book on why he never voted. Said he:

“You may have noticed that there’s one thing I don’t complain about: Politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says, ‘They suck’. But where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. No, they come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and they’re elected by American voters. This is the best we can do, folks. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out.

….I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don’t vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, ‘If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain’, but where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand, who did not vote — who did not even leave the house on Election Day — am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created.”

That’s wisdom there. You thought Bill Clinton sucked? Well, I didn’t vote for him. You think George W sucks? Well, I didn’t vote for him. If you think our current president sucks, and you blame all the republicans who voted for him, then you are in as much fault for encouraging those Repubs to vote. You have no right to complain. You should have said, “Vote for John Kerry or stay home” – That would really emphasize how emphatically you think the other candidate is less than horse crap. But you told the republicans to vote, you begged them to vote, and you got what you asked for.

Here are some other reasons, in no particular order, that leave such a bad taste in my mouth, I feel that I would be more productive staying home and unlocking new songs on Rock Band than voting:

1. Celebrities want me to vote. You talk as if we are supposed to hold your opinions higher than our own. You don’t have that ethos with me. The simple fact that these arrogant, tasteless, coke-snorting, immoral drunks think I should vote makes me not want to vote. Though, it only makes sense that people who pretend to be someone else for a living would support a cause to allow this country to be led by people who pretend to be something else for a living.
2. Electoral College. Maybe if I was in a swing state this wouldn’t be on my list, but I lived in Idaho and Utah most my life. The general population decides my vote goes to a republican. People can talk all they want to about “making your vote count, let your voice be heard”, but the popular vote means nothing (see: Al Gore vs Bush). The Electoral College tells me I’m voting for McCain weather I vote Obama, or Mickey Mouse – but if I stay home, it lets me let my voice be heard by not lending my voice to the herd.
3. Conspiracy Theories / Voter Fraud. I hear the cry, “Vote! Vote! Vote!”, then from the same voices I hear, “Votes get changed!”, “Hanging Chads don’t count”, “Registrations are fraudulent”,  “Registrations are tossed out”, “Voting machines get hacked”, etc, etc. So this is supposed to give me confidence in our voting system? I’m not one for bazaar conspiracy theories, but I also don’t doubt the abilities of “secret combinations”, or that fraud really happens. It’s a tiresome argument I have to hear and if I don’t vote, I don’t have to question if my vote was even counted or changed.
4. Vote for the “lesser of the evils”. What a dumb thing to believe. People are so bent on “having” to vote that they justify voting for corrupt politicians by just choosing the “lesser” of the evils. I don’t vote for evil. If I truly believe that both are evil, but one is more so, why would I vote at all? So, if one guy molested 10 kids under the age of 8, and the other raped 14 women, would you then vote for the rapist of the women as the “lesser” of evils because at least he raped adults and you HAVE to vote? It’s an absurd thing to say, and I don’t think people believe it. I honestly think people say that but believe their party leader is a saint and the other party leader is a devil. If I truly think both parties are evil, weather one is more evil or not, I won’t dare put my check mark next to any of their names.
5. “Make your Vote Count” or “A Vote for ______ is Really a Vote for _________”. The last election I was tempted to vote. The taste in my mouth with Bush and Kerry was so bitter that I nearly registered to vote, but vote for Ralph Nader. I wanted to see a strong independent, but Nader would have had to do. But when I told people this, here is what I heard, “No, no, no, no, no – You have to make your vote COUNT! Nader has no chance, you need to support a real candidate” Uhhh.. no. I also heard, “A vote for Nader is a vote for Kerry!” – or Democrats said, “A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush!”. My reply? “A VOTE FOR NADER IS A VOTE FOR NADER, you dolt”. I don’t care if the rest of the crowd is rooting for America or China in the Olympics, if I am from Zimbabwe, then I will root for Zimbabwe. So, they tell me to vote, and in the same breath want to tell me who I should not be voting for. “OK, then should I vote for Kerry? “NOOOO!!! That’s what we are trying to avoid by telling you not to vote for Nader!” Which beings me back to, why are you just not telling me to vote for who you want me to vote for or stay home? So I just stayed home.

So here I am, the day before elections and after writing all this it just reminds me of how absurd this whole voting game is. Yet, I registered to vote this year. Maybe I just wanted to qualify for jury duty, maybe I wanted people off my back, maybe a small part of me wanted to actually try and vote this year. Tomorrow I get to stand in a voting booth and decide if I’m just giving into peer pressure because P.Diddy and my friends and family think I should vote, if my vote will actually be counted and remain who I voted for, if it will even matter anyway because of the electoral college, if I’m only going to be voting for “evil” – lesser or greater, and if I’m really voting for someone else if I don’t vote along one of the two parties.

I think I will vote, though. I will break my tradition and put down my “boycott the vote” sign in my brain and put my mark next to someones name. I’ll deal with the consequences and sigh afterword when I watch the lawsuits fly as accusations of “vote stealing” start pouring out. But who would deserve this personally historic vote from myself?

I’ll detail more after I do vote, if my conscious allows me to vote for someone, but this is what I am thinking as of today:

Yes, Obama has some ties to questionable people, but that’s because 6 years ago he was a human palling around with other humans. For the last 25 years McCain has been palling around with fellow “terrorists” in the government, as far as I’m concerned. I think he’s long forgotten what it’s like to be human. Maybe somewhere between the purchase of his 4th and 5th house. Maybe that’s why he chose Palin, which would have been a good idea if I considered small town Alaskans human. I come from small town, I wouldn’t vote for any of those crazy people any more than I would vote for myself in a position of that import.

One party has really showed its dark side in this election and it makes me sick to hear how bad they have been dragging the other man’s name through the mud and attempting to enduce fear in people. I consider the attempt to rob faith in people by enducing fear an evil act. Yes, both sides do it, but one has done it much worse than the other, and I think that declares to me who the “lesser of the evils” really is.

After all, if, as a non-voter, I am looked at as a backwoods communist who supports terrorists and is hell-bent on destrying America as we know it, not valuing freedom or the constitution – then I have something in common with one of the candidates. And since I know it’s not true of me, I certainly believe it’s not true of him.

Socialism vs. Capitalism vs. Satan’s plan for America vs. God’s plan for America vs. What’s going on with America?

I’ve been hearing this argument over and over again lately:

Obama = Socialist
McCain = Capitalist

This argument, of course, leans on the notion that Socialism is of the devil and Capitalism is a gift from God therefore:

Obama = evil
McCain = good

This is SO misleading on so many levels. I was listening to Glen Beck today, and I love and loathe him on several points and he got my wheels turning today. He was making this comparison and I was conflicted. On one hand, equaling the playing field sounds good – helping those who struggle because they haven’t made it yet. But then, why is this the governments job? Why should the government “force” those who have succeeded to pay more because of their success? After all, as Glen pointed out, isn’t “force” Satan’s plan? More government regulation infringes on our freedoms. That’s “force”. I agree.

So, why are we taxing at all?!?!?

My argument is – WE’RE ALREADY IN A SEMI-SOCIALIST SYSTEM. The Republicans are no better than the Democrats in this regard, it’s just a matter of who gets taxed what. So the republicans believe in tax breaks for the rich but keep taxing the middle-class the same – how is this less “force” than shifting the tax burden to the rich? It’s all TAKING taxes, it’s just who you tax for the best result.

BUT WHY PUNISH THE RICH FOR THEIR SUCCESS?!?!

1. It makes to poor feel better. That’s not a good reason, it’s just an observation.
2. Tell me about their success. How did it come about? I know tons of middle class citizens, such as myself, where it’s not unusual to pull a 3AM work session. It’s not unusual for millions of middle-class Americans who work like dogs to try to make ends meet and achieve that same less-taxed success that other people are enjoying. Some of the wealthy get there because of inheritance, a lucky break, or even with the same hard work everyone else is going through. Many times the success of the wealthy relies heavily on the backs of the middle-class. It often relies on acquisitions, lawsuits, exploiting weak companies, exploiting loopholes, shady marketing techniques, and it becomes a cut-throat-survival-of-the-fittest society.

How does this somehow qualify for less “punishment” than the middle-class? I don’t think they are more skilled, talented, or hard-working than 95% of the population. Other than the theory of trickle-down economics, why should they qualify for more tax breaks than the middle-class?

So, let’s talk about trickle-down economics: It’s not working. It could work. For that matter, Socialism COULD work. So COULD Capitalism. The reason that neither work, or are working now, is simple:

GREED.

Socialism would work if greed and power was taken out of government, and Capitalism would work if you took the greed and power out of the corporations. The reality of America’s situation is that the government is bought and paid for by giant corporations. Corporations rarely play the do-gooder – instead, if it makes them more money, they’ll move their workforce to Mexico, or India, or China. Just today the New York Times is running an article about JPMorgan. Want to know what they are doing with their $25 Billion injection from the taxpayers? It’s not going to the loans, it’s going to a cushion for acquisition of other banks. So, if there’s a depression, they strip the competition and ride it out until they come out the other end on top. Do you really think that corporations have YOUR best interest in mind?

I think it’s silly how they have easily duped the public into thinking that somehow less taxes on the rich is less Socialism than less taxes on the not-so-rich. It’s even more silly for them to convince people that it’s working.

Last, a little note to my LDS friends about this:
Look at the Bible. Look at the Book of Mormon. Kings were established. I often think about King Benjamin in the book of Mosiah. He was a “KING” – but read about the things he wrote. He was a servant to the people, though he was appointed to lead them. He warned of greed. Note, that he was a king. So was Nephi, who was also a prophet. If our system is THE righteous system, then how come it wasn’t the system established in the Book of Mormon, or Bible? Like I said, ANY of it could work if we practiced temperance and charity and the other principles of the Gospel.

I firmly believe that the constitution of the United States was inspired by God. I believe it mainly paved the way to allow the restoration of Christ’s church. The premise of the Constitution is pure and good, and necessary, to allow us freedoms to choose – but those freedoms allow for more evil to creep in, and, as written in the Book of Mormon, this land is a choice and blessed land as long as we CHOOSE good over evil. This doesn’t mean choosing Republican over Democrat, or Capitalism over Socialism – it’s choosing to live by the principles we value. It has little to do with our monetary system which won’t exist in the next life, anyway, other than the principles that guide how we govern that money and use it to take care of those without it.

The one thing that should always be on the forefront of our minds is the reason for much of the destruction to the people in the Bible and especially as pointed out in the Book of Mormon. In compiling and writing the book, Mormon had one group of people in mind – US. Now. In this time. As he pointed out again and again, it was pride, envy, and greed that brought down the people of the Americas, stripping the “promise” out of the Promised Land. It served as a pattern and warning to us. I think we are seeing a similar breakdown now. Let’s keep that in mind as we search for, evaluate, and support the “good” system. I personally think there’s no recovery, only preparation. The only way to strip greed and pride out of the people is a big slice of humble pie. And make no mistake, unless the people at the top do it on their own, it’s coming.

So, I say, let’s try something different for a while as far as taxes go, if we even can survive to that point. I say, if they are TAKING it anyway, let’s see how it can be given to help support those who work just as much, and as hard, and as smart as the wealthy. Let’s, as a country, as a society, learn to support each other as a whole instead of just ourselves. It’s that unity that Satan tries desperately to destroy and he’s done a great job on a corporate and government level. Let’s try not to blindly support his efforts.