My 90 year old mom in red Ohio used to be a lifelong Republican. My whole family grew up conservative. We’re ALL fed up with where the party has gone. We’re all Dems now, thanks to trump and MAGA. Not because we changed, but because the Republican party changed.
I’m an old, straight, white, male Democrat. I USED to be a Republican back when the party stood for something positive rather than negative, back when they stood for:
—the middle class instead of the elite class
—fiscal responsibility instead of giving trillions of socialist tax cuts to the top 1%
—sensible gun laws
—freedom of the press
—separation of church & state / freedom of religion (instead of imposing their religious beliefs on me)
—supporting our military instead of letting the lead candidate insult them and cut funding for veterans
—family values instead of letting criminals run & hold office
—democracy instead of overturning the will of the people,
—free speech instead of book bans
—issues and platforms instead of their platform now being 100% negative, hatred and anti WOKE, only about making liberals cry.
Let’s look at the issues, one by one:
GUNS. I support the 2nd Amendment. But Republicans want MORE guns, for everyone. They want teachers to have guns. They’re OK if kids have guns. They made it easier for people who are mentally ill to get guns. They oppose Red Flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of violent offenders. Meanwhile, Democrats do NOT want to take all your guns away, despite GOP rhetoric. Dems want to close background check loopholes, fund research for mental illness, pass and enforce Red Flag laws, limit high capacity magazines, and encourage safe gun storage. I’m on board with all that.
TAXES. Republicans used to favor cutting taxes on the middle class and upper middle class. Now, they only want to cut taxes on the top 1% – 5% of the wealthiest Americans, and increase taxes on middle and upper middle class. They also want to keep tax shelters that allow multi-billion-dollar mega corporations to pay zero taxes. Dems favor a corporate minimum tax for public mega corps (notably not for small businesses), and tax cuts for middle and working class. Trickle Down Economics has proven time and again to not work. GOP tax policy used to benefit me, but no longer does. I do not agree with mega corps like Facebook paying zero taxes.
WOKEISM & FREE SPEECH. It’s OK to think the world is overly politically correct. But Republicans go too far, and some proactively encourage hate speech, while others simply stay silent and refuse to rebuke hateful anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans, antisemitic, and/or racist rhetoric. Arguably, that could contribute to the violence we see against these communities.
PARENTS’ RIGHTS & “FREEDOM”. Republicans claim to be for “Parents’ Rights” but actually they are only for the rights of right wing republican parents, and do not at all support letting democrat or liberal parents speak up. The GOP wants everyone to be a Christian Conservative. Being a “free country” does not mean you’re free to impose your views / religion on me – just the opposite, I should be free to do what I want, practice the religion I want, etc.
IMMIGRATION. Republican policies discourage LEGAL as well as illegal immigration and asylum. They want to deport all immigrants and asylum seekers, even those awaiting for their immigration hearings. And they use hateful rhetoric calling all border crossers criminals, even if they are seeking legal asylum trying to escape dangerous situations at home. Dems, despite GOP talking points, do not favor “open borders” but rather, fair and humane asylum / immigration hearings. Dems appointed many immigration judges to move the backlog.
BOTTOM LINE: I am now essentially a straight ticket Democrat voter; Not because my positions have changed, but because my former party has moved too far extreme to the right. Their actions & votes (and where they’ve remained strategically silent) speak far louder than their words and talking points.
#RvsD
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