I converted last month. It was
a simple process: no fanfare, no studying or preparation. With the click of a
button, I went from being a Democrat to a Republican.
I’d gone to renew my driver’s
license. In addition to confirming my weight, height, eyeglasses, and organ
donation status, the online form also asked if I wanted to register to vote or
change my party affiliation. There it was: the question I’d been asking myself
for the last few years. So why did it take so long to do?
Like many converts, I needed to
reconcile my own past and family traditions with my present self and newer
beliefs. I’d been a Democrat all my adult life, as were my parents and all
their friends, and my grandparents and likely all their friends. This was in
many ways our religion. Not having been raised with the organized G-d-centered
type, being a Democrat became our communal core, the New York Times our “Bible.” Dinner parties at my home included
conversations in support of liberal politics and policies, with the Times as their reference. Without anyone
having to say it out loud, Democrats were good, Republicans bad. At some point,
around fifth grade, I heard that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, causing me a
bad case of cognitive dissonance. I refused to learn any more positive things
about the Republican Party – not that it was being taught in my school – and
went back to simply absorbing the ideas of my surroundings.
The shift for me began with
Obama. Maybe because I’m a closet racist and just didn’t like 50 percent of his
genetic makeup. Or maybe it was because of other things – like his friendship
with antisemites and anti-America race baiters like Jeremiah Wright, Al
Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan. Or maybe it was his deference to Iran or his
wife’s claim that she didn’t respect America until her husband was elected. I
was surprised to learn that even my liberal father agreed with me, but, as he
said to me in exasperation, “What am I supposed to do, vote for a Republican?”
At first, I believed that Obama’s
election, despite his lack of experience and sinister affiliations, would
finally put an end to lingering racial tensions. Instead, he rekindled and
inflamed those tensions by fostering identity politics; vilifying the police, even
at a funeral of five slain officers; weaponizing the IRS against conservative
groups, and making repeated claims of racism where there was little or none (such
as in the killing of Trayvon or the arrest of Henry Louis Gates). Black vs.
white, rich vs. poor – these were the ongoing themes of his administration. Ironically,
he hurt the very people who adored him. Despite his campaign promise to support
school choice for his African American constituents, he changed his tune when
the American Federation of Teachers donated to his reelection campaign on the
condition that he stick with the status quo and keep African American kids in
dysfunctional districted schools. Very un-liberal of him.
Those cracks in my beliefs have
widened as I’ve watched the current administration continue the policies that
hurt America internally as well as damaging our world standing. Opening our
southern border to allow in seven million unvetted illegal immigrants; shutting
down the Keystone pipeline and other U.S. energy sources, thus undermining
energy independence; and printing massive amounts of money to fund specious
agendas like climate emergencies and “racist roads” have wreaked havoc on our
economy and compromised our national security. Trans rights, gender
confusion, anti-whiteness, and intersectionality have become normal ideologies
in our schools – private and public – all with the support of Democrat
politicians. The White House’s most recent move to destroy Title IX that
promoted women sports and scholarships, and its attempt to withhold arms from
Israel despite a Congressional mandate, reflects the anti-American and
ant-Israel attitude that has infected the Democrat Party.
Over the last several years, I’ve
watched many diehard Democrats wake up to the destructive policies of the
Democrat Party. Their refrain: “I didn’t leave the Democrat Party; it left me!”
In the words of African American sportscaster and lifelong Democrat, Stephen A.
Smith, “I’m disgusted by what the Democrat Party has become!”
I’m a little late to the “Walk
Away” movement, but I agree with Mr. Smith as I believe my father would have
had he lived to see the chaos and destruction currently being created by this
administration and the Democrats who walk in lockstep behind it. I no longer
feel I’ve turned my back on my liberal family but, rather, that I am fulfilling
what they taught me about standing against bullies and corruption. I am
glad the MVA made it so easy to do the “right” thing.
Jill
Moroson, LMSW, is glad to have joined the party of Abraham Lincoln and all the “classical
liberals” who have had to find a new home where free speech, fiscal
responsibility, and family values are defended.
