To: Geoff Altman who wrote (10088 ) 5/4/2013 1:04:36 PM From: DallasKevin Read Replies (3) | Respond to I'm sorry....it's not ignorant. It is a fact that the public sees the Right as being that way. This is one of the things the Republican party needs to change...the public perception of them being racists. For our economy and the future of our freedom and way of life, the US really needs to embrace many, if not most, of what the Republican party stands for. The US cannot survive as a "welfare state", or "nanny state", as some call it. No country can, as history has proven time after time. And one of the things that made our country what it is today is the Constitution, which has been under attack for a LONG time - by both parties, to be truthful, but mainly by the Left. (The passing of the Patriot Act eroded many of the basic civil rights within the Constitution.) The Left seems to simply want to ditch the whole thing. Historically, the Republican party has been for equal rights for all . Historically the Democratic party has been against this concept. In the past it was the Democrats using derogatory language towards those not white and for segregation, etc. In the last couple of decades these two parties have seemed to change places in regards to this topic. While on the part of the Democrats, this has been largely accomplished by "spin" and other methods while, by-and-large keeping the exact same attitude within the core of the party leadership. It seems that the negative spin on the part of the Republican party has been due, in large part, to public statements and policies put forth by the rank-and-file. It is not enough just to point out that, in the past Republicans freed the slaves, was against restrictions on immigration as they saw that immigration is vital to the survival of the country and were also the party that got equal rights to be law. The Republican party has not spent the time nor the money that the Democratic party has spent on public perception. Instead, they have let way too many beer-belly backwoods types speak as if they were the voice of the party. Without expending any resources to defeat this view, the public perception stands as the "accepted attitude" within the party.
