Oliver North and the Iran contra scandal woke me up. Anyone else have a conversion story? It’s amazing when you open your eyes.
I came to a little bit at a time, starting with the Elian Gonzales fiasco...then the 2000 election...then listening to Rush and reading FR (both the latter suggested by my husband, scan59).
Mine was in the Carter transition to Reagan. I was graduating high school and due to the Carter recession, my counties unemployment rate was 23%. My only real employment option was the military, so I joined the Army. Second to marrying my wife, best decision of my life.
While I was in the Army, I learned a lot in basic training but most importantly, I learned that excuses don’t cut it. I was hearing a lot of excuses from the Democrats and Reagan was talking a lot about responsibility. During this time, I heard about Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and decided to read it.
That, along with reading Mein Kampf, and Das Kapital, taught me more about economics and all that I needed to know that the Dems wanted to take my money from me and give it to others.
That was my epiphany path.
I had been disillusioned with the Democrat party since the Carter era, but the Monica Lewinski affair finally broke the camel's back for me.
If any of my Republican voting coworkers had taken ten minutes to talk to me, I might have jumped ship in the Reagan years. I certainly did give him credit for bringing things around in those years.