For several years I participated in efforts to abolish the death penalty. My opposition was both for religious reasons and because I am convinced that it is administered in a grossly unequal manner, executing the poor and minorities for crimes for which the wealthy and white are imprisoned. However, I found myself explaining my absence from meetings regarding the abolition of capital punishment after the Valerie Plame outing. I explained, "Until Karl Rove has been executed for treason, I can't really say that I oppose the death penalty in all cases."

I nearly spewed my coffee across the room this morning when I read Ryan Cooper's "From the Right" column in which he claimed that Republicans were hesitant to use negative campaigning. Such a claim seems to be as out of touch with reality as the comments he makes about how Mormons are being discriminated against, even while the Mormon Church funds campaigns to promote discrimination against the gay community's civil rights. The hypocrisy of whining about protesters ruining the solemnity of Mormon weddings in response to the Mormon attack on the legal status of same-sex couples' marriages is staggering.

From the Willie Horton ads in the presidential race of 1988, to the misleadingly named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," Lee Atwater and other Republican spin doctors created a style of negative campaigning which found its master in the dishonest character of Karl Rove. Scare tactics, deception, manipulation of the gullible and last-minute slander campaigns have replaced meaningful content in the Republican campaign strategies of recent years.

I pray that the failure of trying to trumpet Barack Obama's middle name, and guilt by association allegations about his pastor and controversial co-committee members along with such silly notions as "he wants to take our guns" and "he's a Muslim" will show the Republican party that it is time to change their campaign strategies.

I challenge everyone who has, in the past six months, said that Obama will try to take our guns, or Obama is a Muslim, or Obama is a socialist to write that on a piece of paper and stick it to your refrigerator door and look at it every day for the next four years. When you realize that you were lied to, that you were tricked by dishonest campaign tactics, then resolve to be more discerning about what you believe before you cast your vote in 2012.

There is a need for a balanced two-party system in this democracy. Republicans used to be known for fiscal conservatism and strong defense. In recent years they have been in bed with the religious right extremists and greedy deregulation-advocating aristocrats. The Bush administration has wrecked the economy with unprecedented and wasteful spending while treating our military as if they were disposable pawns in a "wag the dog" foreign policy.

Republicans need to re-evaluate their dishonest scare tactics. Stop using homosexuals as your "boogie men" to mobilize homophobic voters. Stop taking money from the extremists such as the NRA. Stop passing out tax cuts to the rich while telling the working poor that some day it will all trickle down to them. America needs a Republican party which is strong on economic and military leadership and which has too much dignity to embrace the likes of Karl Rove and his dishonest ilk. I pray that someday in the future the Republican party might become what Ryan Cooper says that it is today.

Dr. Roger Ray is the pastor of the Community Christian Church. The opinions expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of the Community Christian Church. He may be contacted at RevDrRay@aol.com. "From the Left" appears every Wednesday. Coming Tuesday: "From the Right."