Could you ever vote for a dem, or encourage anyone else to?
In almost all instances, usually not. I became a Republican in reaction to the widespread tolerance of corruption within the Democrat party. For a long time, I felt that ANY Republican was better than a Democrat, until I discovered that that wasn't necessarily the case. Some Republicans were even worse and more destructive WITHIN the party than any outside force could hope to be (meaning a Democrat who stays a Democrat can only inflict so much damage since they aren't in the GOP party apparatus).
The things that can destroy the Republican party are #1 corruption and #2 liberal statism. Those two things are what destroyed the Democrats as an ethical party and as a moral party (though I probably overstate the latter, since they've always carried the original sin of being the champions of human bondage and racial supremacy). If the cancer of liberalism and/or corruption pervades the party, which unfortunately it has in many state parties (MA, IL, NJ, CA), drastic steps have got to be taken to correct the problem. By that measure, sometimes it is necessary to put the party "in the shop" as one would do to a car that is broken down, and work on it to get it back into fighting shape. If that means that the Democrats beat us for the short term, it's a necessary price to pay. Most of the time when that happens, it will scare both the public (and hopefully the party) back to reality and help us to sweep back in before the Democrats can inflict too much damage.
Unfortunately, some in here seem to think that by copying the Democrats in substance (liberalism/socialism/statism) that that is the "only way to win." Well, folks, if that's the "only way to win", we've just lost the war. If the Republican party decides it wants to copy the Democrats, just as the morally vacuous Whig party did 150 years ago, I and millions of other registered voters nationwide can take the show elsewhere. I didn't leave the Democrat party only to see the Republicans become exactly that which is wrong with this country today. I hope that answers your question.
Ever? I voted for the peanut farmer and guvinor moonbeam. Once, each and never again. That realization (never to vote dem) was before the xlinton travesty. Demoncraps aided and abetted a traitor. Each and every one of us in the country are tainted by xlinton's touch, and the closer the touch the more tainted the individual. The demoncrap party displayed to me how traitorously communist they have become. No, I'll never vote for a demoncrap!