Excerpts from the Republican Party's platform:

"We believe America is exceptional because of our historic role — first as refuge, then as defender, and now as exemplar of liberty for the world to see."

No longer. Republicans no longer believe that America is a refuge. They no longer believe that we are defenders. Now too, they have used voter suppression and gerrymandering to ensure that we are not a shining example of liberty and democracy.

"We believe in the Constitution as our founding document."

"We believe the Constitution was written not as a flexible document, but as our enduring covenant."

These two statements can be found back to back in the party's platform, yet they cannot stand together. Our founding fathers created the Constitution knowing that they were not omniscient. What is the Bill of Rights, if not proof that the Constitution was intended to be amended? The first ten amendments to the Constitution were written and ratified by the very same people who drafted our Constitution. There can be no clearer proof that the United States Constitution was intended to be a living document - an outline of our nascent Republic, but not a finished product.

"We believe the United States of America is unlike any other nation on earth."

All nations are unique. If you need to put this in a document to remind yourself of the fact, then I'd suggest Republican leadership needs to spend more time abroad. Scandinavian countries may seem the same from afar, but each is extraordinarily different from the others. Europe may be united by an economic union, but within it holds dozens of languages, ethnicities, national heritages, values and principles. No two countries in the middle east are the same. African countries are as diverse and varied as anywhere else on Earth. You could not find a more diverse continent than Asia and the countries within. Empty platitudes are no substitute for principles and values.

"We believe our constitutional system — limited government, separation of powers, federalism, and the rights of the people — must be preserved uncompromised for future generations."

The Republican party may have believed in limited government at one point, but no longer. They are content to tell women how to handle their reproductive health. They are content to tell people what they are allowed to put in their own bodies. They are content to contribute to an ever increasing military budget at a time when conventional militaries could not be less useful. Even the arch-conservative Cato Institute agreed - the Republicans have become the party of "Big Government".

We can tell that the party no longer believes in the separation of powers, either. Our current president attacks the judicial branch daily, saying things like, "First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!" and "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" His interference with ongoing investigations into his own campaign's involvement with foreign officials has resulted in firing the head of the Department of Justice, Sally Yates (who was investigating Michael Flynn's ties to Russian officials during the campaign), US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara (who had multiple ongoing investigations into Trump and associates), and now FBI Director James Comey (who was not only investigating, but had recently requested additional resources to dig deeper into election interference).

I reject the Republican Party's representatives in the House, Senate and White House. These are not leaders. These are cowards and crooks. These are liars and racists. These are among the most unprincipled and greedy of men. They choose to sell out their country and its citizens for a few shiny pieces of silver. For all their claims of Christianity, they choose to worship at the altar of Judas, not Jesus.