I know how you feel. I grew up in a coal mining New Deal Democratic family in Virginia. My granddaddy worshipped FDR, and my dad still waxes sentimental about Truman, but not so much about JFK (he can't stand the Kennedys and their snobbery).
I was too was a registered Democrat, yet Conservative like Zell, until it finally dawned on me during the Clinton years that the Democrat Party had been completely subsumed by socialists and outright Communists. I quit the Democrat Party and joined the Republican Party, just in time for the 2000 primaries and election, and have never looked back. My dad is still a Democrat and has never been able to accept the fact that I moved on. Needless to say, we can never discuss politics without getting into a bitter argument. Sad.
I totally understand...my dad got his head beat in trying to create a union, and at the end of his life had nothing but disdain for the unions and the thugs that had taken them over. My mom on the other hand, was a Socialist til the day she died.
Sadly, it’s the same when I visit my parents. I’m 52 and they are 82 and 83. They are lifelong dems as were my grandparents on both sides of the family. Being a democrat is almost genetic and inescapeable. But RWR convinced me in 1980 the right way was the right way, and I’ve never gone back. Needless to say, we don’t discuss politics anymore because the tension gets too high. They don’t understand why I switched, and I can’t figure out they’re still associated with such a slutty party. Other than that, we get along fine :)