Why I Am Leaving The Republican Party
I had a bit of a different path from +Pradheep Shanker. I remember in 1980 when all of my classmates were convinced that a vote for Reagan meant a vote for World War III. I voted for Reagan in our mock election anyway - Carter won by a landslide.
4 years later, I fooled around all summer and didn't both to register. But after I missed the September Primary I took the time to go register. In my town, you went to a Dry Cleaners' and there was an older African-American lady who helped you fill out the forms and had you swear the oath to uphold the Constitution.
I really wanted to register as a Republican but my parents convinced me that it didn't make sense because many local elections were settled in the primary but there were few if any Republican candidates running at the local level. So I went ahead and registered as a Democrat. And voted for Reagan. (I also ended up being assigned to the wrong precinct for years but that is another story).
In 1988, I voted for Michael Dukakis in the Democratic Primary because he seemed the best choice. In 1992, it was Bruce Babbitt. 1996 and 2000 I honestly don't remember. In 2004 it was Joe Lieberman - overwhelmingly easy choice.
In 2004, I was helping the wife of our former Fire Chief out with a computer problem. Her son was running for Sheriff in the Republican Primary. She asked me to vote for him and had the form ready to be filled out so I finally switched parties. And my parents decided to do the same. In the intervening years, it was much more likely that Republicans had a full slate and there was one or zero Democrats seeking an office locally.
I actually thought about picking up a form to change parties yesterday but it was raining fairly heavily and I couldn't decide which route to take - go back to Democrat or register as Libertarian? I still have some to decide and I may wait until the Convention. Or I may not.
I never thought I would find myself in this position but then a lot of other Conservative Republicans feel the same way.
http://neoavatara.com/blog/?p=16548
