If Republicans only meant what they said...

I've thought about this for a long time and that is, if Republicans only truly meant what they said, heck, even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans really were for "smaller government" instead of creating the needless, superfluous Homeland Security Agency and burning through millions and billions of dollars, even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans actually lived that they didn't want government in the private lives of Americans, instead of intruding into the literal, physical bodies of women, as well as their private lives, as on the subject of abortion, especially considering that abortion rights have been the law of the land for lo these 38 years, even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans actually lived that they didn't want government in the private lives of Americans, instead of having it, again, intrude on the private lives of consenting adults, into their bedrooms, as with their stances on gay rights and same-sex marriage, even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans really were for the "little guy", the working man and woman of the United States, if they were for the average guy on the street, instead of always pushing for the big corporations--Big Oil, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, the "military-industrial complex" and every other large company in the country that happens to throw money their way--even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans put the country first, instead of putting their own self interests first and thinking of how it could benefit themselves, even I might be a Republican.  (But I'll admit here, we have far too many government representatives in ALL political parties--not just the major 2--that do this, admittedly, to the detriment of the country).

If Republicans and their political party really were a "big tent" and inclusive and didn't do things like try to kill the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, thus alienating nearly all African-Americans and anyone and everyone else who, like me, happen to think that voting rights are something to be supported and even fought for, instead of denied, then even I might be a Republican.

If Republicans were for clean air and clean water and clean soil for everyone---and not just the wealthy who can get away to their pristine, expensive retreats, wherever those may be--and didn't vote against the Clean Air Act and work against the work that the Environmental Protection Agency does, etc., etc.--heck, even I might be a Republican.

But Republicans don't do these things, they don't act these ways and they've shown themselves to be proponents of BIG government, BIG spending, intruding and intrusive government that gets into the personal lives of Americans and they seem to do virtually everything that is supposed to be the exact opposite of what the party stands for and is supposed to be about.

And time and time again, they show they just don't "get it."

Any of it.

And that is why, today, there is a "Tea Party", folks.  And Libertarians and the Libertarian Party, for that matter.

Even those people had had enough.