An Open Letter to Democrats from a concerned Republican

To my Democratic Friends,

I'm a little concerned about you lately. Well, I'm more concerned about the person you selected as your leader. You need to find someway to rein in former Governor Howard Dean. To call him a loose cannon is putting it mildly. In the past few months, he has decided to fan the partisan flames by making wide generalizations about Republicans. He has said, "I hate Republicans and everything they stand for" and that Republicans have never worked an honest day in his life. Only recently he has said that the GOP is mainly a "white Christian party" ignoring the fact that many persons of color voted for Bush last year. Heck, the person writing this letter is a person of color.

NO doubt some of you like all this Republican-bashing. Of course, being a Republican, I'm not too crazy about it. I'm a Republican who happens to be gay and of African American and Puerto Rican heritage. I work 40 hours a week as a legal assistant and I also work part time as a minister. I stand for fiscal responsibility, a strong military, fairness and equality. You see, I don't fall into Mr. Dean's neat little stereotype. Republicans are varied and different, just like there are varied Democrats.

But I'm more concered that this shows a lack of ideas among Democrats. It might feel good to bash us Republicans, but what ideas do you have? For example, you bash the President's Social Security plan. I do agree it has a lot of flaws. However, you offer no ideas of your own, and we need some. The Baby Boomers are getting ready to retire and that will put pressure on the system. How will we handle that?

The Democrats have lost their research and development arm. In a way, you are still using ideas that were developed 40 to 70 years ago. The world has changed and you need to find ways to keep your values and yet do something new.

Listen, all this red meat might do well with the true believers. But it does nothing to reach out to middle America. How are you reaching out to the so-called "red states?" President Clinton could do that, but Howard Dean can't.

You really need to get rid of this guy. Yes, he has a loyal following. But all he is a cheerleader. He preaches to choir. You need someone who can help foster new ideas and who can talk to the family in Nebraksa as much as the single person in Los Angeles.

I say this because I think we need two strong parties. I don't agree with you guys all the time, but I would like to have an opposition party that presents a credible alternative. Right now you haven't done that.

I'm busy trying get my own party to become more sensible, so I can help you. So, you need to do this. Please stop speaking to the converted and make a choice to reach out. Take care.

-The Moderate Republican