Disturbingly, the Fraters Libertas are more than a little excited about a 100-year old woman:
Emma Torkelson, 100 year old resident of the Broen Memorial Home in Fergus Falls, MN registered to vote for the first time in her life on Friday Sept. 24, 2004. Wayne Stein, Otter Tail County Auditor was on hand to receive her registration application and also her absentee ballot request form. Mr. Stein had no recollection of there being any older first time registers in Otter Tail County history. State Representative Bud Nornes also paid a visit to congratulate her. Emma’s absentee ballot will arrive in the mail in October, and her family will be there to share the experience with her when she casts her first vote – for George W. Bush….Emma states she’s not ever been “a politician” but the president’s stance on abortion and the marriage amendment have made her want her to vote this year. Her parents were life long Democrats, and she figured she always was one too. They both voted, and she can’t say why she never did. When asked if she’ll vote again in four years she stated “I suppose I will, if I am still living.”
I’m just wondering how the news that big government Republicans are beginning to appeal to lifelong Democrats should be seen as a positive development by the conservative Republicans that make up the core of the party. Sure, Mrs. Torkelson is sound on abortion, and I applaud that, but I still see this sort of thing as more of an indication that the Republican party is moving to the left than one that the nation is warming to the apparently outdated Republican concepts of freedom and liberty.