So I wrote my congressman...

After this week's BS down in Austin, I got good and mad. And I can't call myself a Republican anymore. Until it stops acting like, sounding like, and smelling like the "Good Ol' Boys Club," the GOP can kiss my sweet support good-bye. God knows, they shoulda kissed me on the mouth and bought me dinner first.

To: Congressman John R. Carter

6544B S. General Bruce Drive

Temple, TX 76502

From: Janna Zepp

Voter

Salado, Texas 76571

June 26, 2013

Subject: the image of the Republican Party

Sir:

I am one of your constituents, a Christian, and a sixth-generation Texan. Since 1983, when I turned 18 and was eligible to vote, I have voted in nearly every election, be it local, state, or federal. I vote. And it’s time you heard from me personally.

For 29 years, I have voted as a Republican, with very minor exceptions. This is the first year I stopped voting for anyone connected with the GOP. I am too embarrassed by what I see and hear from the Republican Party to consider myself a member anymore.

I don’t know that much about politics, but here is what I do know: While I don’t particularly care for the Democratic Party, and I am certainly not a fan of our president, right now, the Democrats are a far cry less offensive to women as the Republicans. They are mopping the floor with the GOP image-wise, Mr. Carter. And they might well be the majority in the state pretty soon if the Republicans do not wake up and see how women voters are leaving them in droves because of the Republican Party’s poor public image and perceived “War on Women.”

I’ve chosen not to cast my vote for Republican candidates in the future. In this past election, I pulled a straight Libertarian ticket. Why? Because as a woman, I no longer feel you have my best interests at heart. Members of your party consistently act like misogynistic buffoons in front of the media with no regard for their image or that of their party. They say exactly what they really think about women or they put their abject stupidity about women’s issues on display, and it is terrifying and embarrassing.

I am telling you this because I hope that you will tell your party brethren to wise up and quit shooting a hole in the foot of the party. Are women’s reproductive issues really worth sacrificing our 2nd Amendment rights or our personal wealth which will be lost to more taxes if the Democrats get a bigger toe-hold in Austin? Because you gentlemen have gotten all focused on how and when a woman has a child, and have turned off enough of the women in the State of Texas to the point that we don’t really care anymore that you are the party preserving our right to bear arms or to retain our hard-earned money. We see you as angry old white men bent on keeping us barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen because you think what is between our legs controls our intelligence and ability to make good decisions.

The issue of abortion does not affect me currently, but I have daughters. While I don’t view abortion as a means of birth control, I don’t want that option altered drastically or taken off the table for me or my girls by anyone, let alone a man who will never have to make the horrible decision himself. You will argue that the GOP does not want to end abortion entirely, and that you are trying to make things better for us. But that is NOT the perception your party has given us. And if you know anything about communications and public image, the perception IS the reality.

Pick your battles carefully, sir. I advise you, as your employer (for that is what we voters are) to leave the abortion issues alone, and urge your Republican brothers and sisters to take a good hard look at the image your party has nationally. Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican, gets what I’m saying enough that he said it himself openly at the Republican Governor’s Association just last year. I’d hate to think that Louisiana might have one up on Texas in understanding its voters. But after this last debacle in Austin, it is apparent that you Texas boys just don’t get it. Rick Perry gets it least of all.

And now, the women’s vote is just one more thing, y’all just aren’t gonna get.

Don’t mess with Texas women’s rights. Don’t mess with our access to healthcare. And for crying out loud, know what y’all are talking about when the media turns their cameras on you.

Sincerely,

Janna Zepp

Texas voter