You read that right. I’m a registered Democrat.
For the first time since the early 1990s, I no longer consider myself a Republican. Don’t misunderstand the meaning, I don’t mean to give anyone a false impression. I am NOT a Democrat, not a modern, “progressive” one, at least (although I was quite liberal in my early college days). I *might* be considered a “JFK” Democrat, or a “Truman” Democrat, maybe, remotely, even a “Bill Clinton” Democrat, a man who at least knew how to be reasonable and make a deal. Those balanced budgets in the mid-90s that Democrats are so proud of hawking were passed with a Republican Congress.
I still consider myself, much as I have for years, a conservative-leaning centrist. Reasonable. Sensible. Willing to recognize that there are those who sincerely disagree with me on fundamental issues, and willing to discuss them in a calm, adult manner. But after seeing recent Republicans, I simply cannot support the farce any longer. The modern Republican Party has become a shill, selling its soul and its principles for a cult of personality. And not even a good, decent, likable personality, but an angry, hostile, narcissistic, belligerent, misogynist, huckster. But maybe I’m just a “dumb Southerner.”
Again, let’s not overstate this. I agree with some… okay, a few, of the things the President has done. I’m happy to have Constructionists on the Supreme Court. Being a Textualist myself, and believing, like most of the Founding Fathers, that government is, at best, a necessary evil, rarely a positive good, and always an inefficient one, I appreciate jurists who will take the gift bestowed on us at our nation’s founding and apply it to the questions of modern life, not the other way around. Otherwise, if the document can “grow” to mean anything we want it to mean, it becomes meaningless. That’s not to say it is perfect. It has been amended 27 times, after all, one of which repealed a prior amendment.
The economy is fundamentally sound and unemployment is at historic lows (partly because of the misleading way we’ve been counting for years, but that’s another argument). But I believe this to be largely in spite of, not because of a reckless President who (The Art of the Deal not withstanding) is one of the singularly worst negotiators I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember who said it, but my philosophy is something to the effect of “Get your opponent to do what you want him to do and think it was his idea.” Negotiations are, by nature, bilateral. You want something, the other person wants something different. Both of you want to win, and neither wants to look foolish. Common ground is, by definition, found in the middle. No one wins an argument by calling people names on social media. Put down the phone and govern, Mr. President.
But beyond style, I’ve grown disgusted with watching people, some of whom I admired, do verbal and moral pretzeling to defend the plainly indefensible. Any reasonable adult knows what “but I need you to do me a favor” means in this context. The Republican line of defense has gone like this:
“He didn’t do it”
“Okay, he did it, but it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Okay, he did it, and it was a big deal, but it didn’t work, so no harm, no foul.”
“La-la-la-la-la-la, we’re not impeaching him.”
I’ve seen a sitting President mock, belittle, and outright slander a decorated war veteran, career diplomat, and several members of his own, hand-picked staff. Nearly every Trump appointee I respect and admire(d) is gone, apparently reaching much the same conclusion that I have. Tillerson, McMaster, Kelly, Sessions, Haley (although I’m a little perturbed at her, too), and most of all, Mattis. This President is a man, above all else, who doesn’t like to be told what he doesn’t want to hear, a fatal flaw in a leader in any capacity. People who will tell you, “I support you, but you’re wrong on this” are the most valuable people in your life. He hung an ally out to dry for a personal political objective, an ally that is fighting one of our most dangerous adversaries, an adversary who is playing him like a fiddle. He has since abandoned another ally, the Kurds, but they're probably getting used to us abandoning them.
I can no longer stomach supposedly fiscally conservative Republicans running massive deficits, whatever the reason, with no end in sight and no plan to get there. Our National Debt, ruinous twenty years ago, is a runaway freight train. It cannot NOT crash.
It’s no secret that I was, and am, not an Obama supporter. Nor Hillary Clinton. It has nothing to do with race or gender, I would vote for Condoleezza Rice in a heartbeat. I am neither racist nor misogynist. I will approach the coming election with no thought but the issues. And therein lies the rub.
Aside from the aforementioned spending issues, Republicans are wrong on immigration. Not in wanting to limit illegal immigration. Not in wanting to preserve finite resources. But by not presenting, indeed refusing to present, any reasonable solution that, most of all, has to include a path the citizenship starting with the "Dreamers." There’s no point in immigration reform if it doesn’t address that issue. Deporting 20 million people and telling them to get in line to come back is not a workable solution. It would be ruinous to their lives and the employers who depend on them. Yes, we have a system for legal immigration. But it’s overwhelmed, outdated, and under-resourced. We should be proud that America is a place people want to be, are willing to risk their lives to be. But insular, xenophobic isolationism that simply bars the door and turns up the music has never worked, and never will.
Republicans are wrong on climate change. Once again, let’s not get carried away. I’m not a doomsdayer. I don’t believe humans are parasites on “Mother Earth.” But the data is strong that the planet, overall, is warming, and humans are doing things that contribute to that. I’m not ditching my gas-powered vehicle, my smartphone, or my cheeseburger, but clearly, we need to think about the impact of what we, and countries all around the world, are doing before it really IS too late, whether that’s 2 years from now or two hundred. I don’t support the universal, knee-jerk progressive solution to every problem (massive new taxes and government control), but we need to be willing to have a conversation, the one thing neither side’s leadership has any vested interest in doing.
But none of this was the last straw. That came with the Republican decision to not even hold primaries. Joe Walsh put it better than I can in the Wall Street Journal recently, but the damage is done. Don’t tell me they’re expensive, I know that. And don’t tell me that they’re pointless just because the conclusion is foregone. I know Trump will be the nominee. Expressing my vote in the form of a freely cast ballot is one of the most sacred rights in American government. And by not brooking any dissent, not fielding any questions, not debating any issues, we are all, as Republicans and as Americans, poorer, and dumber. My only option to make any sort of choice this election is to vote in the Democratic primary. After that, I’ll change back to what I really am; non-affiliated.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that, as a political system, the Republican party is (or used to be) rational, responsible, and logical… but not kind. Oh, I certainly know kind Republicans, as individuals. I know kind Democrats. But the party itself? No. Sadly, I haven’t been, either. But God is working on me. I don’t see Him working on Republicans, large scale, and certainly not on our Narcissist in Chief. The phrase “compassionate conservative” was all too short lived. We’re failing people. And if we’re failing people, it doesn’t matter much what we’re succeeding at.
It’s all just words. But there’s a life behind them. A life that affects my family, my friends, my small orbit. A life that had to change.
