Many people long to know why a former Republican would switch sides and run for office as a Democrat. I doubt my story is really that unique. Like many people, I was forced to make an honest appraisal of today’s Republican Party.
Gone is the Republican party that stands for fiscal responsibility. Nationally, this administration has far outdone any accusation of the Democrats being the wasteful spenders. What happened to the enormous surplus built up under Clinton? Before you say it was spent on a necessary battle against the terrorists that perpetrated the attacks of 9-11 (and we all know the lies behind that) let me raise one single question: Did you know that The Carlyle Group (the investment group of George H.W. Bush, the Royal Saudi family and other powerful people) had profits last year over a hundred billion dollars? In an interview a representative from the Carlyle Group asked: “Do you know how hard it is to find enough companies to buy with a hundred billion dollars?”
Gone, too is the party of less government - unless you consider breaking up government services and giving the contracts to your rich friends which they call “privitization” becasue it sounds smarter. Funny, as I always believed less government meant less interference in individual lives.
Gone is the party of moral values. Strange that the party of the elite - and, come on, we all have to agree this Republican party represents the elite - claims moral values. Yet, the Democrats, the party of the people, the party that represents working people and fights to protect our constitutional rights, gets accused of having less moral fabric. Is it because Democrats also support the rights of individuals that many Republicans consider to be undesirables? This brings me to intolerance. Never has it been so obvious that this Republican Party is intolerant of an awful lot. Sorry, I just can’t sit back and tolerate that.
However, the most compelling reason for my change is two-fold. The first is the take-over by the extreme religious right wing. This fringe group has always been a presence in the Republican party, but they have organized locally and nationally to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. We can all feel the impact of this attack, but it is probably most disturbing to those of us that were moderates in the Republican Party because we saw it first and recognized the danger. The second compelling reason are the lies. Somewhere along the way, maybe it’s with Rove, maybe from Cheney, maybe it’s just part of the neo-conservative philosophy, it became okay to lie through your teeth. There seems to be an active strategy that the end will justify the means. I worked in advertising in New York for ten years and the motto was “we don’t care about reality. We care about perceived reality,” this is what is employed day in and day out by those currently in control of the government.
Well, I do care about truth. I didn’t like that attitude in advertising and I despise it from my government. I am very glad I’m a Democrat.
