I'll bite on that fly, M. Le Constructeur; first, I've seen many, many people referred to as "********" or worse by city folk simply because they look down their noses at us for not being part of the "cogniscenti". They use it as an insult. Just wander down to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Soundoff to see what I'm talking about. Conservatives are reviled, and I've only seen such unbridled hatred once before, from Viet Cong and their sympathizers. I took Jay's initial post to be an insult
Second, I'm a Republican because I believe in the values of the original party; individuality, self-reliance, small government, and self-responsibility, and equality. I don't buy into the rubbish about government being able to do it better than private industry (hell, just look at the post office!), and I certainly don't need somebody else telling me what I "should" do or feel/think. I resist being my brother's keeper, paying my taxes to send illegal aliens to the University-which is done in CA, as they allow them to pay in-state tuition.
I was a democrat when I shipped out to Southeast Asia in `67, but two combat tours kinda "changed" that outlook into something a little more reality-based. It's nice to have utopian fantasies, but reality is what we work with. I've also seen the results of socialism/communism first hand and up close. The democrats, at least the more strident of their membership, seem hell-bent on landing us in that camp. If it ever comes to that, I'll put my tiger stripes back on, pick up my M-40, and hit the bushes again.
Politics is a place where no matter what you do, you're gonna step on toes. If it's done intentionally, shame on you: if it's done accidentally, shame on me. We've become so polarized we're frequently at each other's throats, and I'm always reminded that an armed society is a polite society. Maybe we should revisit the Code Duello. That might have prevented that idiot from flipping off my wife the other day for having a McCain sticker on her car-she's an excellent shot! Civil discourse needs to be just that-civil. We've allowed the discourse to become very uncivil, beginning in the `60's.
So, does that give you an idea why I choose to be a republican? I don't vote the party line, by the way, but study the candidate's voting record to determine if they align with my values. That's why I did not vote for Obama, although I'm not a fan of McCain, either.