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TESTIFY! When did YOU become a Republican?
Free Republic ^ | 12/11/07 | Self

Posted on 12/11/2007 4:57:57 AM PST by gridlock

I was looking at a Hillary thread today, which said that if she won the nomination, a lot of Democrats would abandon the Democrat Party. It reminded me of when I finally left the Democrats and "turned to the Dark Side", as my family says. It struck me that FReepers must have a lot of interesting stories about how they came to be here, and that these stories should be told.

Please post your testimony below. I'll start...


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: epiphany
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To: gridlock
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)
321 posted on 12/12/2007 8:30:29 PM PST by skinkinthegrass (just b/c your paranoid, doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you....Run, FRed, Run. :^)
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To: gridlock; AT7Saluki; MurryMom
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...

322 posted on 12/12/2007 8:46:16 PM PST by Libloather (Hillary donors find their way to the cover of Time. And the very next day they're doing it...)
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Comment #323 Removed by Moderator

To: gridlock

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.


324 posted on 12/12/2007 8:55:31 PM PST by jobim
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To: TexasNative2000

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.


325 posted on 12/12/2007 8:58:31 PM PST by Fledermaus (The Dark Knight is coming !)
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To: JewishRighter

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.


326 posted on 12/12/2007 9:02:20 PM PST by Cracker Jack (If it weren't for the democrats, republicans would be the worst thing in Washington.)
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To: gridlock

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.


327 posted on 12/12/2007 9:04:36 PM PST by USMA '71
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To: gridlock

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.


328 posted on 12/12/2007 9:07:11 PM PST by TheLion
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To: Libloather
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.

:-)

329 posted on 12/12/2007 9:18:55 PM PST by writer33 (The U.S. Constitution defines a conservatie and Rush Limbaugh knows it.)
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To: TonyRo76
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! :-)

330 posted on 12/12/2007 9:20:17 PM PST by writer33 (The U.S. Constitution defines a conservatie and Rush Limbaugh knows it.)
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To: MEG33
I grew up in a household that always voted Democrat.

I completely understand.

331 posted on 12/12/2007 9:21:17 PM PST by writer33 (The U.S. Constitution defines a conservatie and Rush Limbaugh knows it.)
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To: gridlock

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.


332 posted on 12/12/2007 9:24:19 PM PST by Professional
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To: NYTexan
When I got my first paycheck!!!!!

Good answer. :-)

333 posted on 12/12/2007 9:24:33 PM PST by writer33 (The U.S. Constitution defines a conservatie and Rush Limbaugh knows it.)
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To: SouthTexas

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

:-)


334 posted on 12/12/2007 9:25:21 PM PST by writer33 (The U.S. Constitution defines a conservatie and Rush Limbaugh knows it.)
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To: Conservative4Ever

Johnson solidified my conservatism.


335 posted on 12/12/2007 9:37:14 PM PST by MEG33 (GOD BLESS OUR ARMED FORCES)
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To: gridlock

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.


336 posted on 12/12/2007 9:59:23 PM PST by no dems (Don't hate me and call me names because you can't reply to my posts intelligently.)
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To: gridlock

When JFK ran for office.


337 posted on 12/12/2007 11:00:37 PM PST by Mark (REMEMBER: Mean spirited, angry remarks against my postings won't feed even one hungry child.)
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To: writer33

BTTT


338 posted on 12/13/2007 2:53:15 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: writer33
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.

339 posted on 12/13/2007 3:42:23 AM PST by LowCountryJoe (I'm a Paleo-liberal: I believe in freedom; am socially independent and a borderline fiscal anarchist)
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To: gridlock

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


340 posted on 12/13/2007 4:23:13 AM PST by TexasCajun
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