Dadoalex
Gold Member
- Jan 11, 2021
- 14,519
- 6,180
- 208
I joined the Republican Party on Dec 9, 1973.
The party, at that time, closely aligned with my, admittedly, inexperienced world view.
Smaller government, check
Less foreign involvement, check
defend personal freedoms, ummmm, not so much but check
Across the 70s and 80s my GOP valued honor, intellect, knowledge.
Then clinton came along and I saw my GOP begin to degrade into the anarchy we see today.
Hell, i was not Clinton fan (at the time) but I was not so obsessed with hating Clinton that I agreed with the GOP dysfunction at any attempt to govern.
Then along came Fox news who made the conscious decision to become the propaganda arm of the GOP and to abandon all pretext of actual factual reporting.
And the GOP under Bush went right along.
Truth became fungible in the GOP.
Honor became a joke.
Then came Obama and the GOP lost its mind.
Tea Parties and Tea Baggers.
Racism not just accepted, but embraced, celebrated.
Governing was no longer the purpose of the GOP
Owning the Libs became the GOP's sole political activity.
The GOP was rapidly becoming the Whigs but no one seemed willing to stop it.
Then Romney...
don't get me wrong, 10 years earlier Mitt would have been a great candidate.
But in 2012, 4 years after the GOP drove the global economy over a cliff...
With a solid chance to defeat Obama...
The GOP nominated a guy who was part of the 2008 collapse.
Made millions from the collapse...
And the thing is, despite this...
Romney was still the GOP's best candidate
What with the others being a senile Ron Paul, an equally senile Gingrich who started this GOP slide, and, of course, every Queer person's favorite, Rick Santorum.
But did the GOP learn its lesson?
Bring on Trump.
Lost the election by 3m votes
Lost Senate seats
Lost House seats
But governed as if he had a "supermajority"
While the GOP had go on to embrace, ignorance, racism, stupidity, they had till 2016 still generally acted as a lawful organization.
On January 20, 2017, that all changed.
First came Flynn an obvious Russian actor.
Trump didn't want to fire him but was forced into it.
Then Trump tried to strong-arm the FBI
and the result of that attempt at extortion left the GOP bereft of whatever dignity it still retained.
My GOP is dead and I see no way to revive it so i'm left with choosing among the DEMS.
The party, at that time, closely aligned with my, admittedly, inexperienced world view.
Smaller government, check
Less foreign involvement, check
defend personal freedoms, ummmm, not so much but check
Across the 70s and 80s my GOP valued honor, intellect, knowledge.
Then clinton came along and I saw my GOP begin to degrade into the anarchy we see today.
Hell, i was not Clinton fan (at the time) but I was not so obsessed with hating Clinton that I agreed with the GOP dysfunction at any attempt to govern.
Then along came Fox news who made the conscious decision to become the propaganda arm of the GOP and to abandon all pretext of actual factual reporting.
And the GOP under Bush went right along.
Truth became fungible in the GOP.
Honor became a joke.
Then came Obama and the GOP lost its mind.
Tea Parties and Tea Baggers.
Racism not just accepted, but embraced, celebrated.
Governing was no longer the purpose of the GOP
Owning the Libs became the GOP's sole political activity.
The GOP was rapidly becoming the Whigs but no one seemed willing to stop it.
Then Romney...
don't get me wrong, 10 years earlier Mitt would have been a great candidate.
But in 2012, 4 years after the GOP drove the global economy over a cliff...
With a solid chance to defeat Obama...
The GOP nominated a guy who was part of the 2008 collapse.
Made millions from the collapse...
And the thing is, despite this...
Romney was still the GOP's best candidate
What with the others being a senile Ron Paul, an equally senile Gingrich who started this GOP slide, and, of course, every Queer person's favorite, Rick Santorum.
But did the GOP learn its lesson?
Bring on Trump.
Lost the election by 3m votes
Lost Senate seats
Lost House seats
But governed as if he had a "supermajority"
While the GOP had go on to embrace, ignorance, racism, stupidity, they had till 2016 still generally acted as a lawful organization.
On January 20, 2017, that all changed.
First came Flynn an obvious Russian actor.
Trump didn't want to fire him but was forced into it.
Then Trump tried to strong-arm the FBI
and the result of that attempt at extortion left the GOP bereft of whatever dignity it still retained.
My GOP is dead and I see no way to revive it so i'm left with choosing among the DEMS.