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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: writer33
I never did really "think" liberal, I guess, I always had a more conservative outlook on things.

Then as I matured politically I just more or less settled in and got comfortable with being smarter than those that thought they should be given everything or have the government tell them what to do.

First election I registered and voted in was 1980. Guess who I voted for?
341 posted on 12/13/2007 5:00:23 AM PST by tongue-tied
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To: gridlock
I became a Conservative during Jimmuh Carter's disastrous handling of the Iran hostage crisis. I swore from then on I would never, ever find myself in the same camp with incompetents like that. Another major factor was that I am very pro-life, and the democrat's obnoxious cheerleading of abortion rights made me sick to my stomach.

When Reagan announced he was running for President, I knew that I had found my ideological soul mate. Best decision of my life, and I've never regretted it nor looked back.
342 posted on 12/13/2007 5:11:19 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Ron Paul put the cuckoo in my Cocoa Puffs)
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To: writer33

I don’t think I even voted that year.


343 posted on 12/13/2007 5:55:39 AM PST by SouthTexas (Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas.)
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To: writer33
Rush laughed as the audience laughed. It was that comedic moment that kept me tuned into the show instead of turning the channel. As I listened, his points began to make sense. Later, I found his radio program, and in the months that followed, I began to transition to conservatism.

So, I guess I’d have to say that if Rush had not been on television, it might’ve been longer before my evolution to conservatism. There is no dollar amount that I can equivocate in escaping the jaws of liberalism.

So, as always, thank you, sir. I appreciate it more than you know.

*******************

Great story!

344 posted on 12/13/2007 5:59:46 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: gridlock

I came from a liberal high school in a liberal area, but my parents were staunch conservatives. Thinking things out in my juvenile way, I was also a liberal. I was in HS during Watergate and the Vietnam War - all the kids in my class were libs.

I remember taking a test in my weekly reader and scoring strongly lib. So I went home and gave my mom the test, and she gave me the conservative thinking behind each question.

Suddenly “Should people be taxed for better schools” had a different feel behind it.

When I first registered to vote at 18 in NY, I registered conservative. The poll worker actually called the attention of every other worker to meet the first “young conservative girl” ever registered there. I was amazed.

My first presidential election was for Ford.

What turned me into a true, ideological, dark red conservative was Rush and homeschooling. I remember being amazed that Democrats, who market themselves as bastions of freedom and choice, would force every child to their public school. Conservatives held the banner for true freedom in schooling, which is why our homeschool group is practically 100% conservative.

I was always independent minded and “different”. It took very little time to realize that the libs were the ones really forcing people into molds, not the conservatives. As long as you behave yourself, conservatives don’t care what the heck you do.


345 posted on 12/13/2007 8:34:01 AM PST by I still care ("Remember... for it is the doom of men that they forget" - Merlin, from Excalibur)
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To: MEG33
I have never voted third party...always Republican.

Same here. Sometimes it is easier than other times. But I save my vitriol for the Primaries...

346 posted on 12/13/2007 8:36:31 AM PST by gridlock (Recycling is the new Religion.)
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To: TonyRo76

Reagan. The combination with the depths of Carter gloom and doom with the optimism of Reagan. That is what did it for so many people.


347 posted on 12/13/2007 8:40:14 AM PST by gridlock (Recycling is the new Religion.)
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To: I still care
It took very little time to realize that the libs were the ones really forcing people into molds, not the conservatives. As long as you behave yourself, conservatives don’t care what the heck you do.

You got that right. The amount of ideological consistency demanded by the Left is astounding. Give me the animating contest of various conservatives duking it out over this or that any day. I don't know how people can stand to be fed the same pap, day after day.

348 posted on 12/13/2007 8:46:56 AM PST by gridlock (Recycling is the new Religion.)
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To: writer33

Thank you mightily for the double ping!! I’ll hafta catchup with this one just a little later. Thanks again!! It does look intensely interesting!!!


349 posted on 12/13/2007 8:51:50 AM PST by SierraWasp (Too many NIE contributors are ruthless, rogue resistance agents in our own CIA & State Dep!!!)
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To: writer33

Oh absolutely. Since listening to Rush Limbaugh I have learned more about politics, Congress, Senate, Judiciary, House and all of that. More than I would have EVER learned in a classroom. He made everything so clear as he talked about all the issues. The man is brilliant and I have been listening to him since the beginning. I watched his TV show as well when it was on. I remember seeing him for the first time on Phil Donahue’s show. Phil was arrogant and assinine as always and would barely let Rush speak. Rush from then on pretty much said he would not go on shows like that anymore as nothing productive comes from it. I was glad to hear him say that. He doens’t need to go on anyone else’s show. His alone is more than excellent and to the point. He truly is the Truth Detector and we thank God for him every single day. Thanks to Rush we are aware and know what is going on and the candidates and libs can’t snow us anymore. The man is a genius. God bless Rush!!!


350 posted on 12/13/2007 9:00:34 AM PST by cubreporter (I trust Rush. He has done more for this country than any of us will ever fully realize.)
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To: gridlock

When that liberal Democrat Doctor slapped me on the ass at birth, I said this is not for me. Thus, Republican


351 posted on 12/13/2007 9:03:49 AM PST by fish hawk (The religion of Darwinism = Monkey Intellect)
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To: writer33

Thanks. I was so disappointed with the shenanigans in D.C. that I vowed that I would register to vote if Ronald Reagan ran for the presidency. Gerald Ford beat him in ‘76. I didn’t register. When Reagan won the Republican nomination, I registered Republican and voted for my man. I’ve been voting Republican ever since. My son last night said that he’d vote democrat BEFORE the communists took control of the Democrat Party. As a result, he voting Libertarian. Where or where did I go wrong with this kid.


352 posted on 12/13/2007 10:13:00 AM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: gridlock

Shortly after I had become a Christian and started going to church. An election was coming up and the pastor reminded us to go out and vote but didn’t commit to a party. So I asked him one on one and he said that most Christians were Republicans. I changed parties that instant. This was in about 1988.


353 posted on 12/13/2007 10:16:23 AM PST by DungeonMaster (WELL I SPEAK LOUD, AND I CARRY A BIGGER STICK, AND I USE IT TOO!)
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To: gridlock

I was born a Republican!


354 posted on 12/13/2007 3:33:23 PM PST by Nasty McPhilthy (Those who beat their swords into plow shears will plow for those who don't.)
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To: writer33

Well said!


355 posted on 12/13/2007 3:34:40 PM PST by Nasty McPhilthy (Those who beat their swords into plow shears will plow for those who don't.)
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Comment #356 Removed by Moderator

To: gridlock
I was a diehard McGovern supporter in 1972, then I took some economics courses at, of all places, the University of Washington in Seattle. I was assigned a Milton Friedman book to read, and the first time I was eligible to vote for President, I chose Jerry Ford over that ass, Jimmy Carter.

I remember with particular fondness a certain day in November 1980, when only crew-cut Al and I were so happy, and everybody else in our Seattle title company office was so glum. The Reagan Revolution was born that day!

357 posted on 12/13/2007 3:40:24 PM PST by hunter112 (Hillary Clinton - America’s Ex-Wife®)
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Comment #358 Removed by Moderator

To: gridlock

I’m a boomer; my parents were strong FDR Democrats. My father was a Dem precinct committeman in our town on Long Island, NY

I became a hippie and was even more left than my parents. My first presidential vote was for Dick Gregory of the Peace and Freedom Party in 1968.

Then I saw the results of our Nam pullout and I started to think. I was a parent by then, and became an RN.

My eyes were opened in 1980 during the Reagan/Carter debates. I changed my registration that year to “Republican” and I never looked back.

PS My parents were very embarrassed by the behavior of their boy Clinton.


359 posted on 12/13/2007 3:46:15 PM PST by DLfromthedesert
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To: writer33

I had no one moment of enlightenment......
I was always a Republican!

And have voted for Republicans in every election I could.


360 posted on 12/13/2007 8:20:36 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Trust the Lord with all your heart.......)
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