Why Democrat

I grew up a conservative republican. At the age of 15 I was glued to the TV in 1976 pulling for Ronald Reagan to beat back the President Ford supporters at the Republican national convention.  I harassed my democrat roommates in college on election night in 1980 when Reagan trounced President Jimmy Carter. It used to drive us Republicans crazy when President Bill Clinton would “steal” Republican ideas and push them through Congress.

Charge and Spend Conservative Republicans

Personally, about the only good thing I can say about George W. Bush is he made me question my reasons for being a conservative Republican. Over his tenure I began to feel we were being led in the wrong direction. He was pushing through tax cuts because we had budget surpluses but the tax cuts were so large within a year he was asking Congress to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. He and the republicans pushed a war with Iraq on false premises and didn’t pay for it. He constantly tried to get more tax cuts during the middle of two wars. This “Charge and Spend” administration quickly erased our projected budget surpluses and ran up massive deficits. The national debt almost doubled from around $5 Trillion to over $9 Trillion. Lobbying reached new heights of arrogance with the republican “K Street Project” led by the ethically challenged Rep Tom DeLay R-TX. The Republicans continually praised the benefits of free trade and push for more free trade agreements as we were haemorrhaging jobs offshore.

Closed-Minded Republican Party

You could see there was something wrong in our country but the Republican party has become a monolithic, closed-minded party of the conservatives and their corporate elite boosters that allow no room for dissent. They see nothing wrong. They believe free trade and more tax cuts will solve our economic problems. I came to believe the Democratic Party was our only chance of reversing our downward trend because it allows dissent which is required to develop real solutions.

Legacy of the Democratic Party

The historic legacy of the Democratic Party has been that it’s the party that protects the public. But the national Democratic Party since President Bill Clinton has become so Republican it’s hard to tell the difference between the parties. We need to return the Democratic Party to its roots of economic fairness for all. We need to make government responsible not just to the multinational corporate elites, but to the American public as well. I ask all independents, Reagan Democrats, recovering conservative Republicans join us in the Democratic Party to provide solutions for America.

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