"If I can't look at evil and recognize it for what it is, how can I claim to recognize good? And if I can rationalize belief in an overtly bad man like Trump, how can I trust that any/all of my beliefs are not also rationalized fictions?" -Shane Watts
I'm sickened by the Republican party's shift away from constitutional democracy, abandoning both principle and platform for the populist allure of terminally ill Trumpism. Our nation needs a strong second party to check power, contest ideas and have critical conversations. But the Republican party, in a state of spiraling radicalization and moral free fall, is no longer that voice.
A lifelong Republican until 2012, I remember what and how the party used to be before Donald Trump's hostile takeover. I supported a party that espoused and defended a conservative, principle-based platform. Now there literally is no platform, only the shifting whims of one man and endless culture wars to fabricate, fight and leverage for fundraising. Reagan's Republicanism was optimistic, with America a city on a hill and the future bright. Now anger and grievances animate the party and its view of America as a "cesspool of ruin." The Republican party of my youth stood for limited government, not the naked authoritarianism with which they now flirt. I remember Reagan saying, "we do not shirk history's call that America is not tuned inward but outward toward others...still willing to stand by those who are persecuted or alone." No more. Now isolationism is the order of the day among Republicans. Not so long ago, democracy was an untouchable, indispensable, foregone conclusion for any Republican; now it's an open question, as is conceding electoral defeat when defeated. When I ran for president of the College Republicans my freshman year of college, the GOP focused on winning more votes than the other guy; now they're all about suppressing--or if that doesn't work, invalidating--the other guy's vote. Back then an inclusive "big tent" platform was the goal; now even mildly dissenting voices are publicly excommunicated from the ever more extreme cult of personality.
Today, as Matt Dowd said, "the Republican party has become a toxic waste dump of Big Lie autocracy and denialism." I'd add to that Kurt Bardella's observation that, "This is a party that believes in absolutely nothing except trying to obtain power, and then weaponizing that power to control other people."
I empathize with Rusty Bowers--a member of my faith who was the Republican Speaker of the House in Arizona until he refused to help Trump overturn Arizona election results--when he lamented, "The constitution is hanging by a thread. The funny thing is, I always thought it would be the other guys. And it's my side. That rips at my heart: that we would be the people who would surrender the constitution in order to win an election. That just blows my mind."
I'm no longer a Republican. But even if I wished to rejoin their ranks, I couldn't. I would be labeled a RINO and quickly canceled. Here's why:
- I categorically, unequivocally reject Trump and Trumpism.
- Likewise, I reject autocrats and authoritarianism.
- I reject the thoroughly discredited lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged or stolen.
- I'm focused on winning the next election, not the last one.
- I believe in counting votes, not "finding" them.
- I didn't vote for Trump. Not even once.
- I agree with Trump being impeached (both times) and believe that he should have been convicted (both times).
- I reject Donald Trump's assertion that I and half of my fellow Americans are "vermin" who should be "rooted out" and "crushed" because of our political views.
- I reject the assertion that the Constitution can be suspended when a president deems it politically expedient.
- I'm not OK with representatives of my party advocating secession from the union.
- I believe that the Civil War was fought primarily over slavery.
- I’m pro-democracy.
- I view constitutional democracy as the non-optional foundation of the United States of America.
- I believe that democracy means sharing power and playing by the same rules.
- I understand and accept that being pro-democracy requires me to sustain and protect democratic institutions.
- I understand and accept that being pro-democracy requires me to accept the results of elections that my preferred candidates lose.
- I understand and accept that being pro-democracy requires me to live in a society with people with whom I disagree.
- I believe in the rule of law, not the law by those who rule.
- I fly my American flag right-side-up.
- My slogan for the January 6 insurrection is, "Never Forget" not "Never Happened."
- I consider "Heads we win; tails it's rigged" a joke, not an election strategy.
- I'd rather lose an election than vote for an unapologetically immoral (or amoral) candidate.
- I refuse to rationalize pussy grabbing.
- I refuse to accept or normalize sexual predation.
- I still believe that character counts.
- I lack a furtive fondness for fascism.
- Objective reality matters to me.
- My reality comes from sources other than Fox News and social media.
- I make a distinction between news I don’t like and fake news.
- I make a distinction between declaring victory and actually winning.
- I make a distinction between claims and evidence.
- I also make a distinction between skepticism and denialism.
- I don't believe that the ends justify the means.
- I don't start with the conclusion Trump is right and then work backward to prove it.
- I don’t do cults of personality.
- I'm unwilling to invoke God or my religion to justify my political ideologies or the way I vote.
- As a devout Christian, I oppose weaponizing Christianity and view Christian nationalism as a threat to both the nation and Christianity.
- I believe in the Christian ethic of loving both neighbors and enemies.
- I don't think that every governmental policy I dislike is socialism.
- I believe that intra-party cannibalization aimed at enforcing loyalty to a failed former president is idiotic and backward-thinking.
- I accept that rights are inseparable from responsibilities, and I'm willing to be responsible.
- I'm a moderate who believes in mutually beneficial legislative compromise.
- I vote for moderate candidates who are willing to reach across the aisle and negotiate deals, not uncompromising ideological zealots.
- Mitt Romney, John McCain, Liz Cheney and Rusty Bowers are my political heroes.
- I like American soldiers who were captured.
- In the Russia-Ukraine war, I support Ukraine, not Putin.
- I try to understand the perspective and reasoning of those with whom I disagree.
- I'm happy to talk to and be friends with people whose political views I oppose.
- I don't think that people with whom I disagree politically are "the enemy within."
- I am neither defined nor driven by grievances.
- Revenge is not my life philosophy.
- I refuse to entertain or even wink at conspiracy theories and the fever swamps that breed their dark fantasies.
- I oppose the alt-truth movement, no matter how often its fabricated "facts" are repeated.
- I believe that gaslighting is a depraved form of revising history, not a legitimate political tactic.
- I refuse to be a propagandist or simp for aspiring dictators.
- I don't want to belong to a party of extremists, militias and QAnon kooks.
- Nor do I want to belong to a party of racists and xenophobes.
- Nor do I wish to belong to a party of the perpetually aggrieved.
- My primary reasons for voting are not fear, hate and vengeance.
- I agree with the leaders of my church that, "principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties."
- I agree with the leaders of my church that, "our loyalty is to the Constitution and its principles and processes, not to any officeholder.”
- I agree with the leaders of my church that autocratic ambitions corrupt democracy.
- I agree with the leaders of my church that, "we should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate.”
- I agree with President Joe Biden that, "You can't love your country only when you win."
- I see the irony in MAGA supporters holding "Stop the Steal" signs.
- I despise demagogues, bullies and sycophants.
- I believe the burden of proof falls on the party making the accusation.
- I believe that evidence, not allegations, leads to credibility.
- I believe that legislators should focus on legislating rather than performance art on cable news shows and social media.
- I’m not a culture warrior. To me culture wars have become, "tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
- I actually support law enforcement, even when they’re guarding the building I’m storming.
- I believe in law and order, even when the violent mob is white.
- I refuse to downplay, excuse or flirt with white nationalism for the sake of votes.
- I reject Trump's racist claim that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."
- I take narcissistic personality disorder seriously.
- I’m concerned with the growing national debt—even when a Republican president is running it up.
- I can see the pros of globalism and the cons of nationalism.
- I oppose tariffs as an economic policy because they result in a tax on American consumers, unemployment and recessions.
- I oppose efforts to make voting more difficult for minority and low-income Americans.
- Likewise, I oppose gerrymandering.
- I believe that Jim Crow-esque "voting protection" laws being passed by Trumpist state politicians are disingenuous solutions in search of a problem.
- I oppose book bans and read banned books.
- I favor common-sense gun control legislation.
- I realize that the vast majority of "the government" are regular people like me and my neighbors, not sinister men in black suits and sunglasses.
- I believe that cozying up to dictators and authoritarian strongmen is bad foreign policy.
- I believe that insulting and alienating our global allies is bad foreign policy.
- I believe that isolationism is a moronically, demonstrably bad foreign policy.
- I believe that voting against one's own policy goals in order to make legislating more difficult for the other party is asinine.
- I'm an opponent of anti-intellectualism, and do not believe that democracy mandates that one person's ignorance is just as good as another person's knowledge.
- I believe in science.
- I believe that denying climate change is a tragically short-sighted environmental policy.
- I willingly got vaccinated (and boosted) for Covid-19.
- I believe wearing masks, getting vaccinated and social distancing during a global pandemic are public health issues, not political positions.
- I'm horrified that the anti-vaxx movement--once on par with the Flat Earth Society--has now expanded to encompass more than a third of the Republican party.
Any one of these reasons would disqualify me from being a member of the modern-day, MAGA Republican party. And that's just fine because as long as the unctuous Trump-enablers, party-over-country politicos, red state secessionists, wild-eyed conspiracy theorists, unabashed bigots, spineless lickspittles and authoritarian-strongman-wannabes remain at the helm, I will actively oppose the Republican party every chance I get.
_______ _ _______
"If you say it enough and keep saying it, they'll start to believe you." -Donald Trump, July 3, 2021
"We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country." - Donald Trump
"A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the constitution." - Donald Trump, December 3, 2022
- Timothy L. O'Brien (Trump biographer)
"In the span of a single election cycle, white evangelicals have gone from being the group in America that is most likely to say that a politician's morality matters to the group that is now least likely to say that. Atheists in America think that a politician's morality matters more than white evangelicals in American do." - Reza Aslan
Skepticism is a questioning attitude or doubt towards one or more accepted instances of knowledge. Denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth. -Wikipedia
Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others. -Mayo Clinic
A demagogue is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. -Wikipedia
Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. -Paul Miller, Christianity Today
“The political path to galvanize American authoritarianism is well-worn and documented. First, purveyors of the paranoid style conjure an “other.” Second, this other is described as different from mainstream Americans, and identified as a clear and present threat to majoritarian values and traditions. Third, the paranoid leader stokes fear that a hidden conspiracy to undermine mainstream values is afoot and alleges that the other is behind it. Finally, in its most virulent manifestation, growing fear of the other is manipulated to rationalize actions that violate fundamental values, norms, laws and constitutional protections guaranteed to all Americans.” -Matthew C. MacWilliams
"Free and fair elections, the very mechanism designed to peacefully resolve disputes in a civil society, are themselves now at the center of a society-splitting dispute. And at the core of that row is something even more fundamental, the failure to agree even on incontrovertible facts - in this case the objective truth that Biden won. How can there be unity, in a country stewing in misinformation and conspiracy theories, when there is no longer a shared sense of reality? Truth is usually a prerequisite of reconciliation." -Nick Bryant
“Every one of us – Republican, Democrat, Independent – must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. This is the cause of our time.” - Liz Cheney
- Senator Mitt Romney
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