1) More solid support for abortion than the Republicans or though not so much amongst poorer Democrats
I'm not sure making abortions tougher to get (which is all politicians can do, since they can't ban it) is a better way to prevent them than reducing unwanted pregnancies and taking away the reason many people want abortions in the first place: the knowledge that their child will grow up impoverished. Do you think most Republicans would want to expand social welfare programs if I told them it would lead to fewer abortions?
2) Greater level of support for gay marriage laws and the prosecution of Christians who cannot in good conscience support these laws.
Huh? What "prosecution of Christians" is going on?
Discrimination against gay people causes them psychological harm -- sometimes horrible psychological harm. I have to side with the victims: it's a matter of principle. I'm a member of three heavily stigmatized minority groups, so I know what it can be like to live in a society that treats you as an inferior. Screw that.
3) A foreign policy that has helped facilitate the massacre of Christians in the Middle east and the rise of ISIS and done little to nothing to provide actual help to Christians being killed or persecuted in this region. A policy that has promoted Muslim candidates in various African elections e.g. Nigeria and Upper Volta.
What's wrong with promoting Muslim candidates? Muslims can be good people, and they're certainly capable of being the lesser of two evils. Hell, some Muslim candidates run against
other Muslims.
I read the two articles you posted about the State Department and Obama's failure to appoint someone to head a "special envoy" to help persecuted Christians. They both seem quite bad -- especially the latter. I'll have to learn more about the topic before I comment, however - keeping in mind that the entire Democratic Party isn't identical to Obama.
4) Poor stewardship of the American economy to the detriment of poor Americans: e.g. health care cost inflation, greater levels of economic inequality and lower levels of social mobility etc.
Healthcare cost inflation is a long-term trend that started way before Obama was President. You should know that from the graph you just posted: it shows healthcare cost inflation since 1999, continuing right through the Bush years. And income inequality is a
40-year trend that really took off in the 1980s, the wonder years for the Republican Party. Not that they're entirely to blame; inequality has also been worsening in most other countries, whose domestic policies the Republicans (and Obama!) don't control.
Even if income inequality is somehow Obama's fault, what is the Republican Party willing to do about it? Most Republican voters don't even think our level of inequality is a problem, and every time a Democrat talks about inequality, Republicans call it "class warfare."
Also, you're probably wrong about upward mobility worsening. Since this forum won't let me post links until I have fifty posts, you can look up a New York Times article called "Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study says" that claims upward mobility has stayed the same for the last 20 years. Incidentally, what will the Republican Party ever do to increase upward mobility? Cut social spending and abolish the estate tax? I think it's astonishing that Republican politicians can decry welfare as a "handout" that isn't earned, when they have no problem with huge amounts of money falling in people's laps just for having rich parents.
Now I'll explain why I can be a Christian and vote Democrat. A lot of the things Jesus said are utterly ignored by the Republican Party: it's almost impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (in which case you'd think we'd be doing them a favor by taking their money), forgive everyone for
everything, "punish" people by heaping kindness and generosity on them, and be compassionate towards the poor. But my main objections are secular:
1. The Republican Party believes a scarily inaccurate version of reality. My first test of someone's judgment is "Do they believe in magic or conspiracy theories?" My second test is "Do they accept science?" Since the Republican Party actually accepts magic
and conspiracy theories
over science in multiple different areas, they fail both tests massively.
Out of all the Republicans who ran for President in 2012, only Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney accepted evolution: the rest believed in young-Earth creationism. Now, I'm perfectly fine if
you're a young-Earth creationist, but these people are expected to help run the most powerful country on Earth! They should understand enough science to know the Proto-Indo-Europeans were more than a couple hundred years removed from the dinosaurs. And if they won't bother to understand science, they should at least trust the consensus of people who do, instead of assuming their gut instincts know better.
Same thing with Global Warming. 97% of climate scientists say Global Warming is happening and it's caused mostly by humans. Did that stop the Republican Party from voting overwhelmingly to deny anthropogenic global warming in January? Did it stop them from promising to promote "private stewartship of the environment" and oppose
any regulations to combat global warming at their 2012 National Convention? No. Because they believe their uneducated guesses and conspiracy theories are more trustworthy than the expert judgment of evil liberal scientists.
And I'm not even done with the crazy conspiracy theories. About half of Republicans believed, right after the 2012 elections, that ACORN had stolen the Presidency for Obama -- even though it had been out of existence for two years. Over half believe Obama is a Muslim "deep down." 62% believe Obama is trying to take everyone's guns (which he can't even do). Almost half believe he's secretly trying to stay in office for a third term. 42% believe Muslims are secretly implementing Sharia in American courts -- which is actually higher than the percentage who think that
isn't true. (You can easily look up any of this. Most of it is from an October 2013 Public Policy Polling poll that I can't link to because I don't have 50 posts.)
I also can't really trust the judgment of anyone who thinks the Bible is both literal and infallible. Anyone with a remotely adequate knowledge of history or science should know the Bible is full of claims that can't possibly be true. It says the Earth is flat and rests on four pillars. It says multiple times that God was about to kill all the Jews before Moses convinced him to
change his mind (with really impressive arguments, actually). It says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." It says Pharaoh's
wizards were able to turn sticks into snakes and change the weather. You can conclude one of two things about people who claim the Bible is infallible: Either they believe in witchcraft, or they're willing to trust the complete accuracy of a book without even knowing what's in it. I won't vote for anyone like that. I'm scared to vote for anyone who even has to pander to those people. It would be exactly like voting for a believer in shape-shifting lizard people.
A lot of Republican politicians
even say Obama is a socialist! That means they have no idea what capitalism or socialism even
are. They won't even type the terms into Google. I expect politicians to know as much about economics as I knew in 8th grade. Actually, I expect them to know much, much more. That eliminates every single politician who thinks Obama is a socialist.
2. Contradictory rhetoric, lack of self-awareness. How can you express empathy for people who are "struggling under the Obama economy," then turn around and call poor people lazy and undeserving? How can you pretend economic outcomes are purely a matter of personal responsibility, then turn around and say Obama should do a better job with the economy? Does the government have a responsibility to help the needy or not?
Welp, that's all I'm willing to say for now.
Believe me, I have much, much more. I'll probably post some of it later.
