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mml,
I performed a quick google search for "republicans against bush" and found one individual's answer to your question:
<a href="http://world.std.com/~3Diff/bushletter.html"> http://world.std.com/~3Diff/bushletter.html</a>
Quote:
An Open Letter to all Republicans
Note: This letter was written in early Dec. 2002.
Fellow Republicans:
President George W. Bush today enjoys wide popularity, fostered I believe in part by the reluctance of Americans to criticize their president in "wartime". As Republicans, we bear a special responsibility to raise our voices, as we are more resistant to attacks on our patriotism, and more responsible for Bush's presence in the White House. Here are my top five reasons why Republicans should speak out today against President George W. Bush:
1. The drive for war on Iraq.
a) The Republican party used to be the party that kept America out of international entanglements. Until the Reagan years, the party had taken pride in the fact that all major wars in the last century had been entered into by Democrats (WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam). The peace treaty for WW I was signed under a Republican, Warren G. Harding, and Nixon had extracted the US from Vietnam. Why are the Republicans suddenly the party of war?
b) The war on Iraq is being justified as part of the "war on terrorism". What connection does Saddam Hussein have with anti-American terrorism? He has supported anti-Israeli terrorists, but so has much of the Arab world. There is no known link between al-Qaida and Iraq. Saddam certainly oppresses his own people and has invaded two of his neighbors (losing both times), but is presently largely contained and impoverished under the sanctions policy established by George Bush Sr. and continued under the Clinton administration. What real threat does he represent to the US?
c) The world in general fails to see our justification for war on Iraq; what little support exists seems to be clearly due to US arm-twisting. There have been massive anti-war rallies around the world. The US's international reputation is sinking. The idea of the "pre-emptive invasion" is widely viewed as an unwise precedent that will cause the world much trouble in the future.
2. The attacks on civil liberties, under the guise of the "war on terrorism". The US has a long tradition of civil liberties, and many Republicans have been strong defenders of those liberties. Now we have secret military courts? US and foriegn citizens held as neither prisoners of war nor criminals, denied access to lawyers or even their families? A "big brother" database where all transactions will be tracked (an idea many Republicans have opposed for years)? A French-Canadian thrown in jail in rural Maine for a month for driving 50 feet over the border to visit a gas station with a gun in the back of his pickup? Barry Goldwater would not be pleased...
3. The abandonment of the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. The Republican Party has not in recent years been known as the party of environmentalism (although Teddy Roosevelt, responsible for much of the modern National Park system, was a Republican). But as the party of business, Republicans know that once you have signed an agreement, you don't back out of it. Our renouncement of the Kyoto Treaty caused the US immense international embarrassment, and damaged our relations with Europe and Japan. I would also argue that scientific research seems to strongly suggest that doing something about global warming is a good idea. But after all, Hawaii is a Democratic state, so if a few low-lying islands got lost...
4. The crisis of confidence in corporate governance. I think it is fair to say that, except for SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt resigning under cover of the midterm elections, nothing has been done. It is surprising that a Republican administration has not done more to promote clean accounting and corporate accountability, conditions which are essential for investor confidence. (Update: Since I wrote this, the Bush administration finally got around to proposing an increase in the SEC budget for enforcement. How much follow-through this will get remains to be seen.)
5. The 2000 election. Yes, this is old news by now, but think - wouldn't the Republican party have looked better if Bush had asked his campaign to make sure that all the Florida votes were recounted fairly? And Bush might well have won anyways (authorities differ on this, but mostly I believe they say a careful recount would have still declared Bush the winner). The resulting scandal over the vulgar legal and extra-legal maneuvering has made it harder to persuade other countries to run fair elections - dictators such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe have pointed to the Florida scandal and said, "Hey, I ran elections at least as fair as that!"
I feel that Republicans should speak out against Bush, not only because of the damage which Bush is doing to our country and its international reputation, but because of the damage he is doing to the Republican party. The Republican party is not the party of warmongering, fascism, and stupidity - it is known for its defence of civil liberties, its good management, and its prudent conduct of foreign affairs. By not standing up to Bush, we risk a generation of election losses when the American people wake up from their obsession with safety after the 9/11 attacks. We should demand changes in Bush administration policy, and a new standard-bearer for 2004.
If you would like to send me a comment on this piece, your own list of reasons why Bush is not a good Republican or a good president, or perhaps express interest in creating a real "Republicans Against Bush" organization, I can be contacted at the following address: republicansagainstbush@yahoo.com. Please feel free to distribute this widely, as long as you don't alter the content without my permission.
Sincerely,
- Brian Youmans
A Republican party member in Boston, MA
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