Posted on 12/11/2007 4:57:57 AM PST by gridlock
As I stood there on one of the most historic (1639) and beautiful Greens in all of New England it all started to make sense to me...I have voted for the Republican in every election in my life and have NEVER voted for a Democrat.
oh WELL HELL i WOULD VOTE FOR ZELL MYSELF!
When LBJ was elected in 1964 and I saw his “Great Society”
shoved down the throat of America, I realized I was 180 degrees in opposition to socialism and RATs.
When I was old enough to vote, my first vote was cast for Nixon in 1968.
I’m proud to say I’ve never voted for a single RAT. Ever.
Early 70s radical Yippie...southern style.....before culture wars and sanctimonious self inflated attacks on my region became so popular even amongst conservatives like some here.
Had that been the case I would have likely never been liberal at all but in any event it was more of a rebellion against what was seen as a staid Old Guard or what we called the Establishment....which ironically would be the entrenched Left today.
I started changing after college and in my early 20s while seeing the world and getting a better perspective and seeing what an abysmal failure Carter was.
By my aged 27....I was 90% Conservative.....since then I have only become more so on most issues except a handful where I border libertarian.....marijuana, bedroom morality, etc
Pivotal moments for me were experiencing civil war in Sierra Leone a bit, violence in Haiti, knowing someone who lost everything in Rhodesia and then more or less went thru it again in South Africa, dealing with incredibly snotty liberal people in Manhattan when I lived there who loved to tell me how superior they were to me as a Southerner meanwhile their own “Negroes” lived in squalor in the South Bronx and Bed Sty and Harlem wastelands out of sight and mind unlike where I came from.
Having a large family too helps make one conservative...especially on social issues.
Btw...I am not optimistic....from the vantage point of 50 years of life I think we are in serious trouble.
It was when I saw Bill and Hillary get off scot-free on 60 Minutes. Their years of corruption glanced over. Their scam of a marriage given credibility. It turned my stomach because their sleaziness oozed from the TV screen. That was my defining moment.
Great story! I remember the 4th of July Parade in Ocean Grove, NJ in 1992. I was just coming around in those days, as I have outlined above. It confirmed to me all that was right about my decision.
When Reagan was sworn in and the Iranian hostages boarded the plane. Never looked back.
Oh, man. That brings me back...
Remember when they showed you the "out-take", of how Bill heroically shielded Hillary when the stage light fell? See, they're actually human!
I’m sure you and I are among many converted by Ronald Reagan.
I, too, was a Paul Tsongas supporter. Wow! We are peas in a pod, FRiend...
My father used to have me watch the soviet diplomats on TV when they were asked questions by reporters. My father would then ask me “What did he say?” When I realized that the soviet didn’t say anything of substance, and didn’t answer the questions asked, a light clicked on in my head. That’s why I’m a conservative today, not a republican and definately not a commun... democrat.
I was brought up as a Democrat. I was a member of Teen Democrats, and even answered phones for the Democratic Party Telethon.
While my journey to conservativism began much earlier, I left the Democratic party in 1998. Like you, I left because I was fed up with Bill Clinton. I couldn’t be a part of a party that supported and enabled such an obvious sociopath (or really, pair of sociopaths if you count Hellary.) I changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and even made a post on Free Republic about it.
Something amusing happened after this. My father, who was the penultimate yellow dog democrat, wanted me to drive him to the grocery store. I couldn’t do it at the time he wanted, because I wanted to go vote in a primary. There were no Democrats in this primary, so it looked like I would have to ‘fess up. The conversation went like this.
ME: There’s something I need to tell you
POP: What?
ME: I’m gay
POP: (long silence)
ME: I’m just kidding, I’m not gay. I’m just not a Democrat anymore.
POP: (relieved laughter)
I’d seen something similar on USENET under “how to tell your parents you are an atheist.” I figure not being a democrat was pretty much the same thing to my father!
I read women’s magazines in my teens and early 20s, in the 70s and 80s. I was as politically unaware as a busy, happy, blonde student could be, focusing only on social life. In these magazines, it was complete indoctrination, shaming those who were not liberal and praising the whole liberal/feminist playbook. I just ate it like food and assumed it was all true. TV and movies certainly were no different. And don’t even get me started on the college professors.
My first eye-opening came on my junior year abroad in France, when I had a serious course taught by a famous Communiste. I was taken aback that he who believed in one bowl of rice with a fishhead in it for each of us, was wearing an expensive velour tracksuit with gold medallions on chains around his neck. Hmmm.
I still didn’t get it until years later, back in Europe, I found my job at an international firm had, as they say, become redundant. I was on the dole. OH. MY. GOSH. I had also just had a baby. So here I was, receiving an insanely large salary (80% of my previous) just to stay at home, for years. All I had to do was to apply for 5 different jobs each week. And in Europe you were allowed to put personal details on your Curriculum Vitae. So right up front I put that I was married (bosses are hoping for SINGLE female employees) and worse, HAD A BABY. It was also mentioned in there that my French and German were “spoken only,” because I could not write fluently in those languages. PIECE O’ CAKE. My best friend was in the same situation and we lived very nicely on our government salaries. But both of us became conservatives when we saw first hand how horribly unfair socialism really is. Changed my life.
16 years old after I read CONSCIENCE OF A CONSERVATIVE, WHY NOT VICTORY, McCARTHY AND HIS ENEMIES, GOD AND MAN AT YALE, NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON, and MASTERS OF DECEIT.
Like many of you, it is conservative before Republican. For a couple years, I went insane. As a reaction to Nixon, I made the youthful indiscretion of voting for Carter. That was certainly stupid.
Again, you’re absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, somewhere in this internet is an article written by a RAT attorney who actually outlines how Democrats go about stealing elections. You are correct. The elections must be close for them to achieve their stealing of the election.
One fine day I voted for Jessie Jackson... twice.
It was my low point. I am not proud of it.
When I was flying home from Yugoslavia in 1983 and after witnessing the stench of communism, realizing how glad I was that Ronald Reagan was president.
I haven’t been reading every post but of those I’ve read, I’m surprised I haven’t seen Rush’s name more often. I’ll never forget the first day I heard him. I thought that he wouldn’t last long because the MSM would get him off the air ASAP. Boy, was I wrong but he has given us all courage. Rush is one of America’s greatest citizens—ever!!
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