This is a reply to Col. Flagg and Ferocious Rabbit, both of whom seem insistent on living in the past. Yes, I have also read Wikipedia and I can tell you Mr. Reagan converted to the GOP 60 years ago and that he served as a Rep. governor almost 50 years ago. That was also back in the days when members of both sides of Congress were civil to each other and were generally more interested in doing their jobs instead of keeping them.
Well, welcome to the 21st century my friends. We are Hell and gone from Jack Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you, etc.”. Today’s political jargon is “gimme”, a dialect that really took off with LBJ’s Great Society. Unfortunately, what used to be the Republican party learned how to speak it, too. And they’ve apparently learned to speak it well as evidenced by the last budget vote. Those in power, conservative or liberal, now know they can stay in office as long as (1) those who finance their re-elections are rewarded, and (2) they can buy the needed votes with taxpayer money. You’re upset that Trump hasn’t paid his dues as a conservative, or that he’s switched parties. But as was shown in my own state when Thad Cochran appealed to Democrat voters to vote against fellow GOP McDaniel in the primary runoff, “Democrat” and “Republican” are only titles that no longer have any meaning to our leaders except when they come home and shuffle the Johns to get re-elected. Political ideology and purity of thought mean nothing to them nowadays. What matters nowadays are the enormous sums necessary for campaigning. I’ve read that a presidential campaign will cost upwards of one billion dollars. And after the election who do you think the winner will be beholden to, you or the deep pockets he’ll need for re-election in 4 years, or 2 & 6 years for members of Congress?
Yes I support Donald Trump, simply because he’s the only candidate least likely to already be in someone else’s back pocket. The fact that he’s also demonstrated his ability to be an effective administrator is lagniappe right now. Look at EVERY other wannabe out there right now, grasping and begging for donations, and tell me who else can make that same claim. Col. Flagg and Ferocious Rabbit, right now I’ll take competence and the chance of a leader not already bought off over anything else being offered at the moment, because both sides have clearly demonstrated that your dreams of days past when political beliefs actually mattered are, at best, punch lines for what presently infests Washington. If someone comes along with conservative bone fides AND proof he isn’t already owned by someone else, no one will be happier than me. Till then we all have to live in the real world and play the hand we’ve been dealt. Like it or not Trump is the least bad choice...
Well said.