Posted on 12/11/2007 4:57:57 AM PST by gridlock
I was looking at a Hillary thread today, which said that if she won the nomination, a lot of Democrats would abandon the Democrat Party. It reminded me of when I finally left the Democrats and "turned to the Dark Side", as my family says. It struck me that FReepers must have a lot of interesting stories about how they came to be here, and that these stories should be told.
Please post your testimony below. I'll start...
By the time of the Carter administration disasters, I was had become active in the party and knew why I was a Republican.
However, that being said, I am not a conservative and never will be one. I don't accept labels or leadership from anyone, much less a political movement. I don't join clubs, churches, committees, or any social groups. I have my own drummer, always have and always will.
There is no question in my mind that the Republican party is the only party with at least some rational concepts and beliefs in the post WWII era.
I don't see that changing any time soon, so I plan to be a Republican until I check out.
Today, the R party is dominated by warmongers who stand for principles opposed to their conservative roots. I am proud to state that I am now a Democrat. The R party abandoned me when gave up traditional conservative principles and handed themselves over to the neocons.
I’m a congenital Republican, born to two commen-sense parents. Raised on facts, it’s hard to be a liberal, if you know what I mean.
My brother and I ran an “I Like Ike” wagon around the neighborhood in ‘56. At age 11, I walked into the Nixon headquarters and volunteered. They made me the head of the Nixonettes, and invited me to represent the group in greeting Nixon at our local airport.
I came out of college even more conservative, after near-toxic exposure to Vietnam era moonbats and activist MSM. I’m proud to have been one of the only conservatives in the teachers’ union, and to have taught my students to seek out facts, then form their own conclusions.
One of my greatest joys is to hear my son and daughter espouse conservative views. My daughter was born on Ronald Reagan’s birthday. She’s expecting a baby the first week in July (the Fourth, maybe???). If it’s a girl, she will be named Reagan.
We feel so privileged to be Americans. Our families came to this country for religious freedom and economic opportunity. That’s freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. We feel the duty to be informed, and do everything we can to help keep our country true to our Founders’ vision.
I understand brother, I did pretty much the same thing in college. Hippy chicks were hot and much easier than the smart ones. A few courses of ampicillin and some time to think about the errors of my ways cured me of that.
Murry, your move into the Democrat Party only proves that you were never really a Republican because you could never have shared any of the primary beliefs. You are a leftist liberal, a member of the blame America first brigade that believes America to be the source of all world problems, largely due to it's steadfast support of Israel.
I understand this concept well because my father was a ardent Jew hater and had he lived, would have deserted the R party as you have.(or claim to have done)
Whatever we may think about the support of Israel, this religious war has been going on for two millenia and is not likely to end until everyone on both sides, Christianity/Islam, has been eliminated from the face of the planet. Your inability to pick a side and hold yourself up as some sort of moral arbiter is a false religion in and of it's self, and this sort of thinking has prevailed for the same two millenia I spoke of. It is the liberal mantra. It is the defining characteristic of a useless air breather. it is the primary reason why this war will continue without any finality.
Pick a side! Then support the things needed to win, rather than through inaction and inability to choose to commit, cause the continuation of strife, cataclysm and constant turmoil.
The problem is not America, it's really the inability to commit to winning a war that started some 15 centuries ago. Someone must win or it will continue indefinitely.
This is where the real problem is, and you are part of the problem, as is every Jew or Christian leftist. It's been a problem for a very long time.
Yeah that was me I was demanding my money back when the professor would call in sick.
I was born a Republican.
Dittos! Also my first time at the the voting booth!!
(LVD confession, I was wooed away for one brief moment of my life by a nuclear engineer peanut farmer....who claims he builds habitat for humanity houses today).
The roots probably started to be planted during Iran Contra. I remember as a kid looking up to Oliver North and President Reagan. It was also a huge treat for me to meet Col. North a few years ago. I started to really understand the differences when I went to Rush Limbaugh’s tv show my freshman year of high school in 1993. I started solidifying my beliefs and could argue my side by the time I hit my upper level classes of college, and 9-11 set them in stone.
I've already chosen the side of peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides will be better off when they end years of strife and turmoil characterizing their recent relationship. Violence between Arabs and Jews merely begets more violence.
If the Bush administration keeps its promise to promote a just peaceful settlement between these warring factions, I support the President's position as well.
Islam was created for one single purpose, and that is the destruction of all other religions, starting with their arch enemy the Jew. Mohamed made sure of that when he created it.
WE are targeted because of our support of Israel and for no other reason.
The only way to correct this is to change Islam from the inside out and that is a tenuous goal at best. It will take many,many generations and Bush understands the concept well. He has initiated some things that he can do and that subsequent administrations can build on, but there can be no peace in the near term.
Because of this reality, we must stay on offense. Defensive postures have all been horrible failures. Any politician wanting to return to failed policy because it feels better, is not in touch with reality in my opinion, and the "left" with it's now poisoned Democrat Party is on the wrong side of this issue and afraid to educate it's own constituency for fear of losing them..
If any changes are to occur within Islam, the pressures applied from the outside are critical to success.
This is why I will never vote for a Dem in a national election, and why it is so dangerous to have them in charge of our policies.
This is the singularly most important issue of our time, and must be confronted.
Southern Democrats USED TO BE what conservative Republicans are now. So, while the party label changes..., my philosophical outlook does not.
Always been a Republican. But my dad came over to the right side in 1956 (Ike over Stevenson), and my mom ditched the Dems not long after meeting my dad.
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