Good luck in your quest to help broaden the GOP. I’m sure you are aware that you will be called a RINO by many within the party.
I see we have some fundamental philosophical and ideological differences. I see nothing wrong with a single payer public option that you call “socialized medicine.” The polls show that the majority of Americans favor this yet many in congress are selling their souls to the insurance companies.

You seem to conveniently ignore the fact that there was insane spending by the last administration turning a Clinton surplus into a Bush deficit. All of a sudden there are tea bagging parties blaming this on Obama. Bush started the bailouts and it was continued by Obama. Had this not taken place we probably would have been in a depression by now. To this day Republicans are disputing the significance of the New Deal. What’s up with that?

I believe government can be a solution to many things like helping the weak and less fortunate in our society with education and healthcare. In stead of sending billions of dollars to unjust wars it should be spent at home. What exactly is wrong this? I have health insurance and is quite comfortable, this wasn’t always the case. I know what it’s like not to be covered.

The GOP is so regressive and clinging to bigotry, homophobic, xenophobic past. Republicans are so out of touch with todays America it’s scary and in some ways very comforting because if they don’t adapt it will be permanent minority status.

I completely hear what your saying. Personally, I have never even heard of Lamar Alexander, so I’m not sure you can accurately say that he is “the face” of the Republican Party. As I have said before, I DO NOT support the religious right who insists on clinging to their archaic beliefs, and I’m sure if I have ever heard of Alexander or had the opportunity to vote against him I would do so. It is not as if I vote the party line in every election. Unfortunately, I would be willing to bet that many of the readers on here DO vote strictly party line, and pay little attention to the candidate’s positions. I’m not saying everyone, and voters on both sides of the aisle are guilty of this, but it is a far too common mentality.

It is a sad fact that far too many people hear “Republican” and automatically connect it with the Religious Right. And that is one of the biggest mistake by the Republican Party.

Whether that is the GOP’s image or not, however, it is close-minded to automatically assume that ALL Republicans are that way. It would be just like me hearing the word “Democrat” and automatically associating that with Michael Moore. I think it’s fair to say that there are just as many Democrats who are not as nutty as Michael Moore, as there are Republicans who are not as bigoted as Jerry Falwell.

Again, comes down to a simple difference of opinion. I am just a bit less repulsed by the Republicans, because I actually agree with them on many policy issues, excluding their general stance on gay right. I mean honestly, I don’t undertand why people just assume that if you are gay, then you MUST also like big government, socialized healthcare, out of control spending, and an excess of tax-payer based special interest programs that benifit very, very, feww people. (Think back to the “Porkulus” bill that no-one in congress really read, but voted on anyways. $30 million in that bill went to protecting a mouse in Nancy Pelosi’s congressional district!)

This bill should also help legislators realize that this is not 1992 anymore and that they won’t take any heat for their LGBT-supportive votes and hopefully open the floodgates for other pent-up equal-rights legislation such as ESPA, UAFA and the repeal of DADT and Marriage Discrimination.

And yes, I will also take the opportunity to remind MavsFan of this simple truth. A significant percentage of the GOP caucus is so insistent on holding onto its homophobia that it chose to vote against military spending rather than do anything that would recognize gays.

One of those voting against was Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. In 1979, Alexander was sworn in as Governor, three days early, in an attempt to close out the amazingly corrupt (Democratic) Blanton administration as quickly as possible. (Among other things, the outgoing governor had been selling pardons and parole to prisoners. His brother was in Federal prison for bid-rigging on highway contracts.) Alexander was elected because Tennesseans were tired of Democratic corruption. Thirty years later, as US Senator, Alexander voted against a defense spending bill because it included an expansion of civil rights for gays. “It’s a shame that this piece of legislation was added to a bill that’s supposed to be about supporting our troops” was his observation (McClatchy-Tribune News Service). I guess it was too distasteful for him.

So, MavsFan, I don’t claim this is conclusively damning of Alexander or any other no-voting Republican, but for me it shows just how much Lamar Alexander does not need to represent the state where I grew up. He is one of many who will even turn on a core constituency if it means thwarting gays. This is a politician who cleaned up after a corrupt predecessor, yet he clings to the notion that it’s perfectly fine to exclude some Americans from their Constitutionally-guaranteed equality. Why? Again, the only why is that the existence of bigotry is used as justification for its continuation. This is the face of today’s Republican Party, MavsFan. Bigotry. Homophobia. My America doesn’t need a party that believes in nihilism instead of equality under the law. Your GOP can rant all it wants about “traditional values,” but somehow Republicans (like Sen. Alexander) just can’t bring themselves to defend the traditional value of the Constitution. That’s why I have disdain for the GOP, and for politicians like Sen. Alexander whose bigotry has been put on such clear display.

When you consider “the lesser of two evils” you are placing higher priorities on certain agendas. In my mind, socialized healthcare and out-of-control spending is NOT the lesser of two evils. And if my memory serves me right, it was Clinton who, under some pretense of making a concession, instituted DODT.

When Bush signed DOMA, it made me sick. It made me angry. I probably felt many of the same emotions that you did. The difference is, I choose to fight this type of bigotry from within the “belly of the beast” so to speak. On the other hand, I am not willing to concede other issues that I hold dear, including strong national defense and small government. By the way, if government truely were “small” in a conservative sense, they would have little to no interest in what two consenting adults do in their own bedroom. This I believe is where you are refering to the hijacking of the GOP by the religious right. And to that assessment, I couldn’t agree with you more. Still, I cling to Lincoln’s Log Cabin, and will fight to bring the Republican Party more in tune with their true principals, one free of religious-based bigotry. (believe me, I get enough of that from my parents..)

I am thoroughly enjoying these discussions, as I am always interested in different opinions. And I would love to hear your perspectives.

I hate no one, their actions I do. What’s disgusting is that the Republican party is obviously no longer the party of Lincoln. Your beloved party has been hijacked by the most vile people of our society. Yet you religiously go and support this party and it’s platform.

Is it for fiscal conservatism… please the last 8 years is a poor example. Individual freedom… please they want to ban same-sex marriage, get into our bedrooms and infringe on women and minority rights. When you have people like Sarah Palin, Santorum, Huckbee and Pawlenty as possible candidates for 2012, your party is in trouble.

Log Cabin Republicans have been relegated to the outside looking in, your leaders don’t even recognize you. Not one favorable policy was placed by Republicans for gays the last 8 years. It’s only now that DADT and DOMA is being discussed. Had it been McCain/Palin it would have been constitutional amendments.

No I do not agree with everything the Dem party does but at least they recognize the LGBT community and are not plotting to write discriminatory legislation like your beloved GOP.

Politics is all about the lesser of the evils. So when you Log Cabiners come on here bashing Obama, just remember that at least in our minds he is not Republican!

In order to win over any sort of majority in this country regarding equal rights for gays, you are going to have to win over Republicans, and the Log Cabin Republicans understand this.

Hate LCR’s because they differ on their approach to achieving equal rights, but then you are no different than people who hate us for for who we love. Both is a hatred based on principal.

This combination of factors led to the amendment eventually being dropped by the DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP.

No need to point fingers. Both parties have their problems, and for now, both parties are doing little in the way of guaranteeing ME, the rights I deserve.