Believe it or not, I became a Republican when I was ten...when Ronald Reagan was running for (and won) the Presidency. Now, before your heads explode, or you write it off as youthful thinking, just put yourself in the context of the times.
In 1979, our country was certainly in a mess...the economy was not doing well, Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union. Iran deposed the Shah, and replaced him with a theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini (and took 52 Americans hostage in the process). Jimmy Carter, as good a man as he may have been, just didn’t seem up to snuff. Any Republican probably could have beaten him, but the Great Communicator had the message and the charisma...and Ronnie won not only Republicans, but Democrats alike.
Needless to say, when I registered as a Republican, I got the strangest looks from the registars at the time. In 1988, in a county with 30,000 people, only about 500 were in the GOP. But in those days, the GOP is nothing like it is now (but more on that later). I relished the challenge...how much more can you dare to be different than to be in the minority, to be “country when country wasn’t cool” as it were? Even when I attended college, I by and large still supported the GOP...I certainly was for (and to an extent, still am) for small government, a strong military, and policies supporting law and order and private freedoms. When the “Contract with America” came out, I thought that nothing but salad days were ahead. The Republican Party was nowhere near the current circus it is now.
Fast forward to around 2006 or so...after 9-11 and having the GOP in control of about every branch of government. Yet strangely, I was not that happy. I did not like that politicians that wrote that “Contract with America” were starting to backpedal on their promises, or that waterboarding and other forms of torture were not only condoned, but applauded. I did not like the overall mood that the GOP in general (and professed members in particular) took any sort of constructive criticism as “liberal talk”. The clincher for me was the Attorney General scandal, when Alberto Gonzales fired Democratic AG’s, and used the flimsiest of excuses to fire them. After that, I kind of knew that my days of being a member of the Republican Party were pretty much numbered.
In 2008, on the same day I renewed my driver’s licence, I did the drastic step of changing my political affiliation to Independent. That same year, for probably the first time in my life, the majority of the people I voted for were Democrats...something I probably would have scoffed at nearly 20 years prior. After that year, I have RARELY voted for the GOP, and I only voted for a Republican in spite of their party affiliation, not for them. The Tea Party phenomenon just reinforced that emotion since.
These days, I can only look at the current disarray of the current mess that is now the GOP. I can only think that I am like one of those lucky passengers of the S.S. Titanic who made it to the lifeboats before the ship sank. Yet like a zombie, the GOP still keeps coming back...I still get emails, phone calls, and snail mail from the GOP and their candidates (the latest was from Teddy Cruz, who was asking for, what else, my money and my vote). My reactions range from amusement to annoyance, but I only have to read the trolls from my Yahoo posts or see the latest news to disabuse me from ever even giving, let alone returning, to the Republican Party. Considering the two current frontrunners that the Republican Party has representing them (who have hardly garnered a vote of confidence from the Party itself), I can only thank my lucky stars I got out when I did.
Politics may have strange bedfellows, but even people like me have standards. I just hope that sentiment will reflect into the current election. I don’t think our country can really handle the current “do nothings” (and you know who you are) who are on Capitol Hill collecting our tax dollars and giving us zilch in return.