by James Glaser
September 29, 2005

I know a lot of people who fit that profile, and many of them now understand that their years of work for the Republican Party have been pretty much of a waste. Many of the people I know started working for the Party or a Religious Right group after Berry Goldwater lost his bid for the White House, back in 1964.

When George Bush beat out Al Gore, these people were convinced that their decades of work, and the thousands of dollars they donated were all worth it. They didn't just have high hopes, these people knew that George and the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate meant the end of abortion on demand, and the end of the federal Department of Education. School vouchers were a shoe in as far as they were concerned.

Today these same people don't know what to think. Yes, they all backed George Bush and his War on Terrorism. Some were skeptical, but they believed him when he talked about Weapons of Mass Destruction, and they got scared. Now many of these people know.... that was a lie. And that scares them, because if that was a lie, was the talk about pro-life, and Christian values a lie too?

This second term was going to be "it." In their eyes, the war was going good, Iraqi troops were going to replace ours, and democracy would have a toe hold in the Middle East. On top of that, George Bush would be able to do what ever he wanted.

Now, all those people who worked so hard and paid so much, can see what so many of us have seen for, well almost five years. George is pretty much of a screw up. The people who worked for so long and so hard to get the Republicans in charge, love our country and think very highly of our Constitution. They have watched as George Bush and the Party they worked for, attack the Constitution, and their belief in the "Right," is now shaken.

The Patriotic Act, American citizens put in prison without trial, photos of sexual torture by American troops, expansion of government, and a trip from surplus to deficit are all hard to stomach.

What is hardest for these loyal party members to take is the fact that George Bush has lost the confidence of the American people on both sides of the aisle. George has no political capitol to spend and he is now talked of as a Lame Duck. There will be no change in the abortion laws and rather than being the end of the Department of Education, Bush has strengthened it, and now there isn't even any talk of a voucher system. These people have been had and they know it.