Why I left the GOP

[RunInRed 16,383]

This is long but a really good read ...

I used to be a serious Republican, moderate and business-oriented, who planned for a public-service career in Republican politics. But I am a Republican no longer.

...

There’s an old joke we Republicans used to tell that goes something like this: “If you’re young and not a Democrat, you’re heartless. If you grow up and you’re not a Republican, you’re stupid.” These days, my old friends and associates no doubt consider me the butt of that joke. But I look on my “stupidity” somewhat differently. After all, my real education only began when I was 30 years old.

This is the story of how in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and later in Iraq, I discovered that what I believed to be the full spectrum of reality was just a small slice of it and how that discovery knocked down my Republican worldview.

...

I always imagined that I was full of heart, but it turned out that I was oblivious. Like so many Republicans, I had assumed that society’s “losers” had somehow earned their deserts. As I came to recognize that poverty is not earned or chosen or deserved, and that our use of force is far less precise than I had believed, I realized with a shock that I had effectively viewed whole swaths of the country and the world as second-class people.

No longer oblivious, I couldn’t remain in today’s Republican Party, not unless I embraced an individualism that was even more heartless than the one I had previously accepted. The more I learned about reality, the more I started to care about people as people, and my values shifted. Had I always known what I know today, it would have been clear that there hasn’t been a place for me in the Republican Party since the Free Soil days of Abe Lincoln.

...

My old Republican worldview was flawed because it was based upon a small and particularly rosy sliver of reality. To preserve that worldview, I had to believe that people had morally earned their “just” desserts, and I had to ignore those whining liberals who tried to point out that the world didn’t actually work that way. I think this shows why Republicans put so much effort into “creat[ing] our own reality,” into fostering distrust of liberals, experts, scientists, and academics, and why they won’t let a campaign “be dictated by fact-checkers” (as a Romney pollster put it). It explains why study after study shows — examples here, here, and here – that avid consumers of Republican-oriented media are more poorly informed than people who use other news sources or don’t bother to follow the news at all.

Waking up to a fuller spectrum of reality has proved long and painful. I had to question all my assumptions, unlearn so much of what I had learned. I came to understand why we Republicans thought people on the Left always seemed to be screeching angrily (because we refused to open our eyes to the damage we caused or blamed the victims) and why they never seemed to have any solutions to offer (because those weren’t mentioned in the media we read or watched). ...

http://www.salon.com...i_left_the_gop/

The above are just some snippets, again, read the whole article, you'll be glad you did ...

[DKW 86 7,419]

Change the "Date of Change" from 2004 (I voted for Aubie in that one too) to 2005 and you have pretty much my story.

Bush43 waltzed into the 2000 election with so much cash he just bought the damn nomination. I could barely listen to the man make a speech and didnt think he was qualified at all. Cheney named himself as VP and the red flags were already past half staff. Good people were runover in the 2000 Primaries by the Wall Street Money. Bush43 won because we just wanted "ANYBODY BUT CLINTON." BTW, Gore was a dreadful candidate as well. Changing staff and election HQs midstream, etc. 911 got us all pulling the same direction for a while, but then the "enhanced interrogation techniques" came to light and turned my stomach. Still i supported the regime. The war in Iraq was too much and "too convenient." Haliburton making money hand over fist with reportedly zero oversight was just one more straw past breaking the camel's back. 2004 came along and the Dems nominate Kerry. Wow, couldnt hold my nose on that one. Heard him slander his "Brothers in Arms" too many times.

Sometime in 2005, my view of the Republicans changed forever. They had no ideas or will to stop the mindless spending in DC. Katrina incompetence. The Fannie-Mae & Freddie-Mac debacle in the HOR. The list of failures continued to grow as well. The Reps turned into Dem Lite for me. Mindless spending to elect and being bought hard by Wall Street. The crash in 2008 proved to me that no one in the Rep Party could even admit the obvious, that deregulation had failed spectacularly.

2008 Election, didnt like McCain and Obama just reminded me too much of Jimmy Carter. Voted for Aubie for the third time. We passed ACA, not in the form i liked (RomneyCare), but i accepted that it was time as i had watched my own friends' insurance going up in flames. 2012, Romney was just not making the sale. He had to criticize ACA and defend his own version of ACA at the same time. The Dems dont Investigate, Indict, Try, Convict, or Jail even one Wall Streeter. I give up. There is only one party, the Party of Money.

Now. Warren for the Dems, or Paul, Kasich and maybe one more from the Reps. I wont vote for another Bush. Sorry, just wont happen. Rather have HRC if it came down to it. Rather not have either tho.

I feel very sad for the US. We have allowed the DC and Wall Street Elites to ruin a once great nation.

[cooltigger21 0]

Instead of leaving he should have stuck around and fought the elites that are in charge of it. It's the only thing you can do. Protest votes for Aubie are useless. Get your butt in there and fight for what you want. Make your case. Find others and work together. It didn't get to this point overnight and changing it to what it should be won't happen overnight either. Giving up and walking away won't change anything. You're just playing right into their hands.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Instead of leaving he should have stuck around and fought the elites that are in charge of it. It's the only thing you can do. Protest votes for Aubie are useless. Get your butt in there and fight for what you want. Make your case. Find others and work together. It didn't get to this point overnight and changing it to what it should be won't happen overnight either. Giving up and walking away won't change anything. You're just playing right into their hands.

Was card carrying member from 1980-2005. I did my time.

[cooltigger21 0]

Instead of leaving he should have stuck around and fought the elites that are in charge of it. It's the only thing you can do. Protest votes for Aubie are useless. Get your butt in there and fight for what you want. Make your case. Find others and work together. It didn't get to this point overnight and changing it to what it should be won't happen overnight either. Giving up and walking away won't change anything. You're just playing right into their hands.

Was card carrying member from 1980-2005. I did my time.

OK so you didn't get what you wanted and now you're going to take your ball and go home. If everyone else did that then you're guaranteed to get more of the same. I'm 48 years old and I intend to keep being in this game until I turn toes up. Read this for a good perspective on where we are vs where we were. http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/fix-gop-don-t-abandon-it_898649.html?page=1

[channonc 466]

DKW, while you and I certainly don't agree on everything, I have to say I admire your conviction to stay true to your own beliefs even if that means you are a political party of one. While I align myself with a party, I recognize this is not for everyone and believe it's what makes this country so great.

We need more people who vote their conscience and are wiling to really examine the world around us. As this article points out, our system is built with inherent biased toward others.

[cooltigger21 0]

I choose to stay in the arena and fight to wrest control away from these jackwagons that are running it now. It's the only hope there is. Walking away guarantees that things don't change. I may not have as much as I would like in the republican party now or soon. Still though, whatever faults they have, and they are many, the thought of handing the country to the likes of Obama and Hillary is just too bitter to contemplate.

Conservatives got mad and stayed home in 2012. Well Romney was far from perfect but it would have spared the country from having 4 more years of Obama and the destruction he has brought to this country.

[autigeremt 6,598]

DKW, while you and I certainly don't agree on everything, I have to say I admire your conviction to stay true to your own beliefs even if that means you are a political party of one. While I align myself with a party, I recognize this is not for everyone and believe it's what makes this country so great.

We need more people who vote their conscience and are wiling to really examine the world around us. As this article points out, our system is built with inherent biased toward others.

He's not alone. Democrats are no different in my opinion. The $$$$$ flows in from many of the same donors, and special interests run the party.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Instead of leaving he should have stuck around and fought the elites that are in charge of it. It's the only thing you can do. Protest votes for Aubie are useless. Get your butt in there and fight for what you want. Make your case. Find others and work together. It didn't get to this point overnight and changing it to what it should be won't happen overnight either. Giving up and walking away won't change anything. You're just playing right into their hands.

Was card carrying member from 1980-2005. I did my time.

OK so you didn't get what you wanted and now you're going to take your ball and go home. If everyone else did that then you're guaranteed to get more of the same. I'm 48 years old and I intend to keep being in this game until I turn toes up. Read this for a good perspective on where we are vs where we were. http://m.weeklystand...649.html?page=1

I really do hope and pray that we get a party realignment soon and I really dont think it will be that far off. I am confirmed Indie now. Just too much of the same from both parties to invest emotionally in either side. Fiscally, i am closer to the Republicans. Socially, i am closer to the Dems. I am not really a member of either tigger, that is just the way it is. It isnt giving up, it is just trying to be true to myself.

[WarTim 3,456]

I choose to stay in the arena and fight to wrest control away from these jackwagons that are running it now. It's the only hope there is. Walking away guarantees that things don't change. I may not have as much as I would like in the republican party now or soon. Still though, whatever faults they have, and they are many, the thought of handing the country to the likes of Obama and Hillary is just too bitter to contemplate.

Conservatives got mad and stayed home in 2012. Well Romney was far from perfect but it would have spared the country from having 4 more years of Obama and the destruction he has brought to this country.

Well said. Never give up or give in!!!