nuhuh
Gold Member
It's called an epiphany and I received mine 35 years ago after I voted for Ronald Reagan and he didn't do a single thing that he promised he would while campaigning. Disappointed, I hung up my Republican registration and never looked back. My mistake was thinking that the other side had solutions that the left didn't. I'm still paying for the mistake of casting a vote for that man and I'll regret it to my grave.
"I got a call this morning from an old college friend who’s been a lifelong Republican (for years we’ve kidded one another about our respective politics), who told me he had decided to leave the GOP.
“It’s become the Party of hatemongers and know-nothings,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to be one of them.”
I asked him what had tipped him over the edge.
“Everything,” he said. “Their harangues against undocumented immigrants and promises to round them up and build a wall along the southern border. Their willingness to accept charges Obama is a Muslim and not born in America; that vaccines cause autism; that global warming is a hoax.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Pretty awful.”
“But that’s not all,” he said, becoming agitated. “It’s also their knee-jerk warmongering substituting for foreign policy. Their intolerance of a woman’s right to choose, and of gays’ and lesbians’ right to marry. Their willful suppression of black votes. Their racism!”
It was as if I’d opened a sluice gate. He went on, almost shouting: “Their incessant pandering to their wealthy funders by wanting even more tax cuts for the rich and big corporations, and then lying that the benefits will “trickle-down.” Their attacks on teachers. Cuts in school budgets. Eagerness to cut school lunches for poor kids…”
“Whoa,” I stopped him. “I get it. But these aren’t all new. Why did you stay a Republican all these years?”
He was silent for a moment. “Because I admired Mark Hatfield and Nelson Rockefeller and Jacob Javits,” he said. “I supported Barry Goldwater and John McCain. They reflected my values. I kept thinking my Republican Party would come back. But now I know it’s dead. The Party is now a sinkhole of ignorance and bigotry.”
“So,” I asked with a smile in my voice, “does this mean you’re coming over to my side?”
“No,” he said, still deeply serious. “Not yet. For now I’m an Independent.”
“But you’ll vote for a Democrat in the presidential election?”
“Absolutely. The Republicans now running are all “a-- ----s.”
"I got a call this morning from an old college friend who’s been a lifelong Republican (for years we’ve kidded one another about our respective politics), who told me he had decided to leave the GOP.
“It’s become the Party of hatemongers and know-nothings,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to be one of them.”
I asked him what had tipped him over the edge.
“Everything,” he said. “Their harangues against undocumented immigrants and promises to round them up and build a wall along the southern border. Their willingness to accept charges Obama is a Muslim and not born in America; that vaccines cause autism; that global warming is a hoax.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Pretty awful.”
“But that’s not all,” he said, becoming agitated. “It’s also their knee-jerk warmongering substituting for foreign policy. Their intolerance of a woman’s right to choose, and of gays’ and lesbians’ right to marry. Their willful suppression of black votes. Their racism!”
It was as if I’d opened a sluice gate. He went on, almost shouting: “Their incessant pandering to their wealthy funders by wanting even more tax cuts for the rich and big corporations, and then lying that the benefits will “trickle-down.” Their attacks on teachers. Cuts in school budgets. Eagerness to cut school lunches for poor kids…”
“Whoa,” I stopped him. “I get it. But these aren’t all new. Why did you stay a Republican all these years?”
He was silent for a moment. “Because I admired Mark Hatfield and Nelson Rockefeller and Jacob Javits,” he said. “I supported Barry Goldwater and John McCain. They reflected my values. I kept thinking my Republican Party would come back. But now I know it’s dead. The Party is now a sinkhole of ignorance and bigotry.”
“So,” I asked with a smile in my voice, “does this mean you’re coming over to my side?”
“No,” he said, still deeply serious. “Not yet. For now I’m an Independent.”
“But you’ll vote for a Democrat in the presidential election?”
“Absolutely. The Republicans now running are all “a-- ----s.”
