For my conservative friends who don’t understand why I support the libertarian agenda over the republican agenda, let me share with you one reason right now. . .
Rick Perry.
The holier-than-thou, bible-thumbing Governor from Texas has once again illustrated why the republican party has mutated from a group of free-market, limited government champions to a bunch of drooling zombie bureaucrats who seem to think homosexuality is something they need to rail against to maintain their conservative credibility.
Want to know why the Republicans lost to Obama – a President that should have easily been unseated? It’s because so many Republicans have just turned into complete dicks. And Rick Perry is probably the most outspoken one.
During a recent appearance at the Commonwealth Club of California, Rick Perry was asked if he supported the 2014 Texas republican party platform that LGBT people are patients with a disorder that should be treated through “reparative therapy.” This is the practice that some believe can “cure” people from being gay.
Despite overwhelming evidence that this type of “therapy” is about as credible as voodoo, Perry said he was unsure if conversion therapy is effective.
Deep down, you know he knows it bullshit. But he doesn’t want to alienate anyone who does think reparative therapy has even an ounce of credibility. Although that’s not the part that instigated me to opine about this.
It was this quote that actually sparked my enthusiasm to take a swipe at this knuckle-dragger. . .
“Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that. I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”
This is such a mind-boggling exercise in stupidity, I can’t even muster up a solid argument against this ridiculous theory. It would be like trying to talk sense to a box turtle.
Old, Angry White Guys
Now, quite frankly, I really don’t care that he feels this way. It’s his opinion, and certainly he has every right to express that opinion. But it’s stuff like this that makes so many rational voters look at republicans as little more than a bunch of old, angry white guys.
I understand that there’s a large group of social conservatives who support this kind of behavior. But I’m telling you right now, they are the minority in this country. And that minority is going to continue to shrink.
In the meantime, droves of former republicans who have given up on the idea that the GOP really has any intention of shrinking the government and acting in a fiscally responsible manner are running into the open arms of the libertarian party. And for the sake of our future, I would argue this a good thing.
In fact, now that I think about it, please Rick Perry, continue to rail against those evil gay monsters, those pot-smoking hippies and those anti-war instigators. Because for those who really do want to see smaller government and an end to attacks on personal freedom and liberty, it will be the libertarian agenda that’ll facilitate it. Not the republican one.
