Compassionate conservatism is the new buzzword surrounding the Republican Party. It has been designed to help those who have felt “left out” by the Republicans feel warm and fuzzy. According to George Bush’s official re-election Web site, “In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life.” However, in this presidency, actions speak louder than words. George W. Bush and the Republican Party have made exclusion a social priority.

The Iowa Democratic Party Platform supports legislation that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification and supports domestic partnership legislation. On the Republican side, Bush has repeatedly made statements condemning lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered lifestyles. He has abolished the White House liaison to the gay and lesbian community established by President Clinton. He has publicly stated he would veto any law that abolished criminalization of private homosexual sex. If that is not enough, he opposes any legislation that would extend hate-crime legislation and employment discrimination to gays.

The Republican Party has come to be known as the “White Boys’ Club.” This nickname has been backed up by incident after incident. At the NAACP Conference in 2000, soon-to-be President Bush admitted, “The party of Lincoln has not always carried the mantle of Lincoln.” Bush was preaching he was a “different kind of Republican,” while just a few months earlier giving a speech at controversial Bob Jones University, following in the footsteps of Pat Buchanan and John Ashcroft (who received an honorary degree there). For more than 70 years, the university has promoted its values of “separate but equal” racism.

It has been said that women’s rights are human rights. This administration does not seem to know this. In 2002, women’s rights were on the line. The Bush administration proposed eliminating birth control coverage for federal employees and their dependents, while also trying to cut funding for the Maternal and Child Health programs. In addition, a commission to study Title IX (funding for women’s athletics) was created to analyze the program. The commission proposed several new changes that would drastically lower the chances of girls competing in college-level sports. After overwhelming support for Title IX, the Bush administration backed down from changes to the law.

The Bush administration has made no secret of its exclusionary politics. Americans have suffered from his “abstinence only” view of sex education, cutting funding to HIV/AIDS programs and discouraging the use of condoms and birth control. The right-wing views of this administration are hurting everyone in the country who is not a white, heterosexual man, while the Democratic Party has fought to keep rights equal for all.