TESTIFY! When did YOU become a Republican?

Free Republic ^ | 12/11/07 | Self

[skinkinthegrass]

Richmond, Ky....Krogers' (E. Main St_late 70s)....My dad was in line paying for 2 lb.ground beef barely had enough $$$$....Welfare Mom (w/ 4 screaming kids) in front of him, she had several hundred $$$$ in her wallet....he said, "I'll vote for Republican next election." (Ford/Reagan)

[Libloather]

I was a born-and-bred Democrat...

Bad things will pass.

Soon after passing through basic training, I had the chance to vote between Ronald Reagan and the worthless Carter. Let's just say I added to the landslide...

[jobim]

Age 20 voted McGovern - 1976 for Carter - lived 4 years in Asia, read history & political science, returned to vote Reagan and be all growed up finally.

[Fledermaus]

Ditto that. I got my teachers pissed off when I was 14 in Arkansas wondering why there wasn’t a “Young Republicans Club” to offset the young Dems.

I had no real idea of what each stood for or what conservative was. I just thought it was strange. They labeled me a “trouble maker”.

But, of course, back then Dems in the South, other than being total racist, were conservatives.

[Cracker Jack]

Great question. I started voting Republican after I read Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative” and before the 1964 election. If I thought a libertarian could win, I would probably vote that way. First, destroy the democrats. Then work on the republicans.

[USMA '71]

As others have stated..I think I was born a Conservative. I first came to understand that fact when I was a 17 year old Plebe at West Point. I haven’t wavered from those convictions ever since.

[TheLion]

I grew up all over the country as a naval brat. (my mother would say we were naval juniors....the army had the brats....lol). My folks were staunch Democrats also, but I think Democrats were a wee bit more conservative back then.

Never was political until I reached about 30 years old and got in with the young Republicans here in Virginia. That was an exciting experience because I had never experienced the kind of energy that goes on at some of these rallies.

Got to hang out a little bit with Richard Vigerie (Don’t know the spelling) He was huge in republican fund raising back then.

Like you, I haven’t looked back either.

[writer33]

Soon after passing through basic training, I had the chance to vote between Ronald Reagan and the worthless Carter. Let's just say I added to the landslide...

I figured you for Carter all the way. You surprise me.

:-)

[writer33]

In 3rd grade, I vividly remember my folks, teachers and even kids at school talking about how some pipsqueak little country called Iran had seized our embassy and was holding Americans hostage. It was on the news every night. Further talk ensued about how our president was too worthless and weak to do anything about it. I even remember our music teacher—a dear, older conservative lady—telling us "when Eisenhower was president, no other country would've dreamed of trying this!"

You lucky man, you! :-)

[writer33]

I grew up in a household that always voted Democrat.

I completely understand.

[Professional]

Carter administration. I was 12, opened time magazine, saw a picture of a burned out body of an air force pilot laying dead in the ground from the failed rescue attempt of the US hostages held in Iran. That resolve is burned in my memory.

[writer33]

When I got my first paycheck!!!!!

Good answer. :-)

[writer33]

Don’t give me this Ronald Reagan business. I know you loved Carter.

:-)

[MEG33]

Johnson solidified my conservatism.

[no dems]

I was raised in a blue-collar/labor union, “Yellow Dog” Democrat household in Texas. In my first election to vote, I voted for Richard Nixon in 1968. I’ve been a Pubbie ever since.

[Mark]

When JFK ran for office.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[LowCountryJoe]

In 1987 or 1988, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to a college campus rally for Michael Dukakis. I do not remember what Dukakis was saying or who he was pandering to, but I do remember having a heated argument with someone in the crowd who was bashing our military. I was apolitical at that time and remained so until 1999 when my step-brother turned me on to Rush Limbaugh. But I knew from 1987 that at least one Dukakis supporter was totally misguided. Then I came to understand just how bad it really was.

My journey has become complete after studying Economics as an undergraduate...it has caused me to see government as a problem regarding most things. I look for market-based solutions to the issues in our society so that that the US can reverse this trend of government encroachment [even in some social matters that some Republicans fret over] and get back to the business of liberty. I now embrace the tenth amendment because it promotes competition amongst the states and decentralizes power and wish that the federal budget would be cut to just those things that the US Constitution authorized.

[TexasCajun]

When I realized it was actually my tax dollars that were taken from me to support the hords of consumers non-producers!