I was a Republican when the party believed in liberty, believed in separation of church and state, believed in the right of a woman to choose, believed in the right to bear arms sensibly, believed in unions and collective bargaining, believed in the sanctity of one man's vote, believed in progressive taxes on income, believed in our system checks and balances and the need for a strong central government.
I was a Republican when men of character led the party, men with the stature of Lincoln and the tenacity of Theodore Roosevelt, men like Robert A. Taft and Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater.
I was a Republican before the party caved to the religious right, advanced the interests of wealth and corporate greed, and set a course of obstruction that may lead to our nation's destruction. And today the republican party is led by a cadre of clowns.