Despite the fact that three Republican presidents made former secretary of state Colin Powell the national figure that he is, Powell now is turning his back on the Republican party.

It is not hard to understand why.

It is about the parties.

Not about the political parties, but about the Washington cocktail parties that Powell now will be invited to as a new convert to anti-Republicanism.

Ronald Reagan named Powell as national security adviser; Bush 41 named him chairman of the joint chiefs of staff; and Bush 43 made him Secretary of State. But that’s not enough for Powell.

To show his ingratitude, Powell told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria among other things that the Republican party must stop “shouting at the world.”

Surprisingly Powell does not seem to acknowledge that the media and the Democrat party just finished 8 straight years of non-stop shouting at a calm and collected and decent man named George Bush and the Republican party, calling him names like Hitler, and telling an endless string of lies about everything that the party represents.

Even when Bush gave America the biggest government expansion in the last 40 years in the Medicare prescription drug program, the Democrats just ignored that and continued “shouting”.

Powell went on to say that the GOP’s attempt to “use polarization for political advantage” backfired in the 2008 presidential election.

What polarization, Mr. Secretary?

Have you forgotten how the Democrat party has played the class warfare polarization card and the race polarization card against Republicans for 50 years now; how Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright was and continues to be a hatemonger whose sole weapon has been polarization; that Obama was associated with America-hating bomber William Ayers; that Illinois and Chicago are completely corrupt, polarizing entities under Democrat rule; how Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have relentlessly used racial polarization against white America?

And how did you, Mr. Powell, as a black man, get so high up in three Republican administrations?

Of Sarah Palin, Powell said: “Gov. Palin, to some extent, pushed the party more to the right, and I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx.”

Uhhh, last time we looked, Mr. Secretary, the South Bronx today is the national and world model for crime, murder, assault, urban decay, drug dealing, prostitution, illegitimacy, and every other negative pathology man has come to know. So if governor Palin praised small towns, is that not a positive characterization that she used to appeal to the voters there? Why are you yourself causing polarization by taking a positive characterization and making it into a negative?

Powell pontificated: “I think the (Republican) party has to take a hard look at itself. There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don’t object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority.”

And what has the current “minority” produced? Where are the wonderful technologies and jobs and opportunities that have come out of the black and hispanic Democrat-controlled inner cities of America that we should look forward to as the leading ideology of the nation? There seems to be a lot of poverty, crime and anarchy in many of those cities. In fact most people in these poor Democrat districts seem to want the things that the Republican party stands for – jobs and growth and opportunity and a path to prosperity.

Are  you saying, Secretary Powell, that conservatives need to sign on to more government spending, approve more sexual license, accept the redefinition of marriage, tolerate more generations of dependent, single mothers, become pro-abortion and send more money to the dead-end public schools in order to appeal to minorities?

How about if those minorities see the wisdom of conservative ideas like school vouchers, cohesive families, self reliance, sexual restraint and Christian wisdom as conservatives have suggested for decades now? Because progress is not possible in the chaos that currently rules thousands of these neighborhoods.

Powell endorsed Obama in the recent election. You might think that he would at least give Obama a chance to prove himself before lashing out at the GOP. How does Powell even know that the Republican party won’t make a huge comeback when Obama falters? Because it will when he does. Because Obama is a lightweight who already is in trouble over the scandal in Illinois, and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet.

 Powell said. “I think that the (Republican) party has to take a hard look at itself, and I’ve talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that.” Powell  says he still considers himself a Republican, but added that he believes that Republicans should stop listening to conservative radio show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

“Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons (Limbaugh) seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”

Mr. Secretary, first, Limbaugh does not represent the Republican party. He says so himself. He represents conservative ideas. And if we censor Rush Limbaugh then there will only be two opinions in America; extremely liberal – as in Obama – and moderate. There will be no conservative ideas in the public arena as a counterbalance to Obama-style socialism. And when liberal and moderate ideas are the only ones out there, liberals will take over the country and ruin it, as they already have done in many areas like the inner cities.

The reason that Rush Limbaugh has wide appeal is that he is one of the few sources who gives the “other side” of the story to counter the background noise of modern day media liberalism. In a criminal trial, people often are ready to convict a defendant until they hear “the other side” of the story. Why cannot we hear it? Why are you so anxious to censor the conservative side of the debate?

For instance, Al Gore has been scaremongering about ‘global warming’ for years now. Limbaugh has maintained from the start that ‘warming’ does not exist. Yet now Gore himself is calling it ‘climate change’ because the whole concept of ‘warming’ has been debunked.

Did you see the snow in New Orleans on December 11, Mr. Powell? Did you see 50 below wind chills in North Dakota on December 14?

Powell even is suggesting that the military reconsider its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about gays. But if that policy is reversed, it will disrupt the military because many people historically have objected to homosexuality on moral and religious grounds and this millennia-long opinion should not be disregarded. “Don’t’ ask, don’t tell” covers all bases, Mr. Powell. Leave it intact.

Colin Powell obviously loves the spotlight and wants to stay in it. With Obama as president, he is hoping for a new visibility. Powell should be more thankful to the people and the ideas who made him who he is. But apparently he is not. And that is the really big story of this interview.

Please visit my website at www.nikitas3.com for more common sense.