Why I’m Leaving the Republican Party

I’ve debated this decision for years. Ever since I wrote a letter to President Ronald Reagan as an elementary school child and got a response back I’ve considered myself a Republican and was proud of it. In officially declaring myself to no longer be a Republican I feel, in some ways, as though I’m a traitor or that I’m dooming myself to irrelevancy. I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who turned his back on the religion he grew up with and the thoughts and feelings he expressed about how difficult the decision was and how worried he was about how his friends and family would react have many parallels to my own. However, there is also a feeling of liberation because I no longer feel it necessary to feel defensive about the actions and voting records of politicians whom I feel no longer adequately represent my desires. I also see in my leaving the Republican Party the opportunity to make my vote count more than it has in the past, since it will be viewed as “up for grabs” rather than a foregone conclusion.

For me the rift began with the latest President Bush. It wasn’t the war in Iraq or any of the other matters for which the New York Times enjoyed criticizing the President. For me it was the prescription drug benefit for seniors or Medicare Part D. It was at that moment I said “Wait a second, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money on medicine?” If it had been a Democrat President then Republicans would have expressed outrage at the increase in government spending. After this, I saw President Bush go on to increase federal spending to what I considered obscene levels. Now that President Obama is doing more of the same, albeit at much higher levels and at a faster pace, the Republicans have no credibility when they claim fiscal irresponsibility on the part of our new President. Their criticism comes across as nothing more than party politics.

Today our country faces big challenges, but they are only big in the sense that they have large price tags attached to them. They are not “big” challenges in the sense that they are insurmountable. In fact, most of the challenges we face would be relatively easy to fix with the proper legislation. The solutions seem obvious to anyone outside of Washington, and most Americans, regardless of their party identity, agree on the proper courses to be taken. But the Republican Party, which I once depended on to be the voice of reason, has become nothing more than Democrat-lite. The policies of the Democrat Party are like a freight-train moving down the track, and the Republican Party is like a man who has attached a chain to that train. Even if he digs in his heels and claims to be trying to stop the train, he is being dragged in the same direction and his efforts to stop the train are useless. If the Republican Party were an entirely separate train going in a different direction, then I would stay on it. But I feel as though the Republican Party is on the same track as the Democrats and the only difference is who’s ahead and who’s behind.

I no longer see any point to voting for a party. From now on, I will vote for the person whose professed views, and more importantly their actions, are most in line with my own. I want to see candidates at state and federal levels who believe the following:

1. That the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the Founders is to be followed with strict adherence by our elected officials.

2. That our inalienable rights include life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness, but do not include happiness itself, equality, diversity, health care, education, or a retirement fund.

3. That while government, when properly restrained, can bless the lives of the people, when unrestrained becomes a curse, and that as has been said “That government is best which governs least.”

4. That the federal government should never intervene in matters that can be handled by the states either individually or working in compact.

5. That I have the right to defend myself, my family, and my property.

6. That as many believe in a barrier between church and state, there should be a barrier between business and state.

7. That only individuals, and not the government, are capable of charity.

8. That the traditional family should be protected, and that parents have the exclusive right to raise their children as they see fit, even if they do it badly.

I could go on and on and I could be more specific rather than talking in generalities, but the point is that I do not feel as though either the Republican or Democrat Party is too concerned with my desires, which I believe are the same desires as the vast majority of US citizens. I want to work, raise my family, and live my life without causing harm to others, and yet I feel as though everywhere I go I am harassed and patronized by one of a million laws enacted to protect me from myself as though I were a child that can’t take care of itself and the government a concerned parent. Half the time I don’t know whether I’m keeping the law or breaking it because there are too many laws to keep up with. Half the time the things the government does to help people end up getting in my way. I can find a job without the government providing one for me. I can start a business without the government giving me a loan. I can educate my children without the government paying for it. I can take care of my health and get medical care without the government telling me which doctors I can see or which hospital to go to. I can prepare for my old-age and all that comes with it and I don’t need the government to provide a retirement plan for me. Just let me keep my money and if I squander it then that’s my problem–don’t make it my neighbor’s problem. And what I can do can be done by everyone else just as well, and when the government steps in it does not help individuals to become self-sufficient and independent, but rather creates dependency where there was none before.

Although I say I’m leaving the Republican Party, it isn’t so much that I’m leaving. I’m in the same place I’ve always been. But the Party has become something I no longer recognize as being different than the Democrat Party. Maybe I was always being duped, and I finally grew up. Maybe all politicians are on the same side and I just never saw it as I’ve come to see it over the past few years. I’d like to see a party, any party, that has the courage to stand on principle, rather than on polls. But if I can’t find it in a party, maybe I can find it in an individual politician. I’d like to see politicians who are scrupulous in their personal lives. I’d like to see politicians who are willing to work to lessen the power and influence of government rather than grow it. I’d like to see politicians who are willing to lose elections before they will compromise their principles. I’m 100% confident that such politicians would win elections by landslides, because they would be so unique they would stand out above those who are so obviously willing to say whatever it takes to get the polls to move in their favor.

If you’re affiliate with a party, any party, I invite you to become an independent voter. When you stick with a party, you feel like you have power but you don’t, because the party can depend on you while they chase the “swing voters”. This means politicians are chasing 5-10% of us, while taking the rest of us for granted. Let’s make them chase after the whole lot of us, and not take any of us for granted.