When did the Republican Party become the party of hate? Because that is what it has become.

At one time they stood for low taxes, small government, and representing morals in an increasingly hedonistic culture.

But now it’s a party whose top priority is to spew a completely unreasonable amount of hate toward our president for no other reason than the color of his skin.

Now, many people reading this are thinking, “The race card, how pedestrian,” but it has been the words of the conservatives that has led me to this conclusion, not some paranoid conspiracy theory. In fact, at first, I thought it was simply disagreement over policy.

Yet, every screeching Tea Party protester, every angry-filled Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity monologue, every strange nonsensical quote I read from Newt Gingrich makes it clear that the attacks on our president are not based on ideological disagreements, but based on hatred of the man.

This is because the conservatives in this country are not expressing ideas of any kind, no solutions, and no alternatives to the policies that are supposedly going to destroy America.

I listen again and again, trying to understand why so many in this country believe with such emotional vigor that Barack Obama is harming America, and instead of the ideas and solutions of conservatism, I hear people sneer “socialistic” with a startling hatred.

I hear angry protesters protesting nothing and spewing sentences with no meaning, other than the hate in their voice.

It is clear that whatever is behind this emotion is not based on politics. It couldn’t be, because politics are not being discussed. It is the type of unreasonable anger that could only come from prejudice.

The false rumors and accusations that Obama was born outside of our country, the strange labels, like the Gingrich-coined “food stamp president.” can only be one thing – racism.

So I’m calling out the conservatives in this country. If your platform is more than racist hate, then prove it. Give solutions. Tell me, and others that believe what I do, what you believe. Actually say something beyond these thinly-veiled attacks on Obama’s race. Be a party that stands for more than hatred and anger, because as it stands now, I’m ashamed of America.

I’m ashamed of the people spreading this hate, and I’m ashamed that we have let an entire group attack a man not based on his ideas, but the color of his skin.

Let’s make America something I can be proud of again. Let’s get back to ideas. Let’s make these hate mongers change their tune. Let’s make the discussion rise above this startling low.