
For Me, The Party’s Over
For Me, The Party’s Over
As a Republican my entire adult life, I have made a decision regarding my political party affiliation. I have come to the conclusion that this relationship has run it’s course. To me, I view this relationship as any other, when two sides grow apart, the end becomes inevitable. This decision was not made in haste, it’s been a long time coming. In my world, my friends and associates come from varying political ideologies, from very liberal to very conservative. Regardless of each of our political views, we are able to work together and engage on a social level as well. This to me is one of the amazing and wonderful aspects of our American society. We may disagree on politics, but we can still be friends and enjoy our relationships nonetheless. But times they are a changing. I can go back to specific situations where I had taken a step back from the Republican party. For instance, I was ready willing and able to vote for John McCain. I believed he could have made a good president, perhaps a great one. I saw Senator McCain as someone who could reach out to the Democrats and work together, at least I felt that could be possible. However, when Sara Palin was chosen as his running mate, he lost me. The more I heard her speak and show her unbelievable lack of knowledge, the more I was convinced I could not support this ticket. Her attempts to be charming, her winks and smiles would not sway me. None of her little tricks and gimmicks would overcome her incompetence, not enough for Senator McCain to earn my vote. I was very disappointed in this choice and asked myself many times “who are these political experts and pollsters that would suggest such an incompetent person?” Sadly, competence is not always what voters are looking for. We can look back at George W. Bush. That line “He’s the kind of guy I could have a beer with.” That was sufficient reason for some to vote for him. I did as well, one time, but not for that reason. I was not in favor of a ballooning federal debt. I believed George W. would follow conservative principals when it came to government spending. However the result was over 3 trillion dollars in deficit spending over his two terms in office. He also started two wars, one in Afghanistan which I supported and one in Iraq which I did not. In Afghanistan, that war was targeted at those that attacked our nation. Bin Laden was the enemy and needed to be eliminated which he eventually was. The Iraq war was in my opinion a disaster. The fiasco of the WMD’s that did not exist, the shady deals with Halliburton and Dick Cheney the former CEO as Vice President. There were many issues regarding that administration I had difficulty in defending, especially to my liberal friends. The result was what many non political experts had predicted, a destabilization of the region and empowering a larger threat, Iran. That is exactly what came to be. And what about U.S. Casualties? Over 36,000 Americans killed or wounded. A new study has shown that nearly 500,000 Iraqi’s have died from war related causes. This becomes difficult to defend or excuse. I’ve constantly reminded some of my friends that I was never in favor of that war. I’ve also reminded some of my friends that are against the Iraq war now, after the fact, that they were for it at the time, from that I receive no response.
As I had mentioned, I did vote for George W. his first term, though was unimpressed with him, I did feel he could surround himself with competent individuals. I was even less impressed with him after his first term and therefore, he did not earn my vote for re-election. Getting back to the Iraq war, I had many Anti-Bush friends that repeatedly stated that if Bush won, we will be in a war with Iraq, and they were right, the “I told you so’s” came. “This is an administration that has been assembled for war” as I was told many times by a close friend, and that was prior to the 911 attack. Again, the “I told you so’s” came. I felt I can be a Republican and still disagree with my Republican friends about the cost of lives and resources wasted in this war, and I was able to, but that was then. These are different times now.
There are many others that have made my decision to leave the party easier for me as well. I’m a believer in free enterprise, low taxes and reduction in government size and waste. Now, many Republican candidates say they are as well, but history has taught me that they are indeed, as candidates, not as law makers or presidents. Another issue I’ve always had with ‘my party’ is the religious faction. I’ve never appreciated extremely flawed individuals dictating to me or others how to live. An example is the Newt Gingrich ‘Family Values’ absurdity. I found it to be insulting that Mr. Gingrich would attempt to discuss values he does not adhere to, much less attempt to advocate them.
The Rush Limbaugh’s, the Ann Coulter’s of the party are those I have never allowed to waste my time. I have always seen these individuals and many others like them being about themselves and their self interests, not of the party or the nation for that matter. These are the people that create controversy, hatred and division, because their goal is to acquire and maintain an audience, whether it be for talk shows that need listeners so they can earn income from sponsors or for the purpose of selling books and making paid appearances. These individuals target the uninformed, as Mr. Limbaugh who does not give opinions, he talks as if everything he says is fact, I’m not so easily swayed.
Enough is too much. Getting to present day and the reason I’m no longer calling myself a ‘Republican.’ The man sitting in the Oval Office is someone who has never appealed to me in any way shape or form. He’s always been a smug, disrespectful, slimy individual. Does he have a great deal of supporters? Certainly he does, but I have come to realize how little his ‘supporters’ actually know about Donald Trump. What is more upsetting is when they are informed of this man’s lies, infidelities, past business dealings, they either don’t believe it or simply don’t care. What I believe, based on not only President Trump or even candidate Trump, but as Donald Trump since we first heard of him many years ago is that he is not a Republican or Democrat or Conservative or Liberal. He’s not about the Republican party or even the nation first, he is about Donald Trump first, period. During the primaries, friends and I would discuss who we were leaning towards. I will admit, my candidate was Jeb Bush. I looked over the others, and he was my clear choice. The others were not appealing to me. I looked at Ben Carson, he lost me the day he spoke and his stock dropped every other time he opened his mouth. Ted Cruz, not an option for me. Marco Rubio, a likable candidate, young and intelligent, however, I needed Mr. Rubio to impress me, and he did not, just the opposite, as he appeared out of his league, primarily due to Trump’s bully style where Mr. Rubio showed his weakness. So as I mentioned, Jeb Bush was my choice of the Republican candidates. As friends and I discussed our choices, I was beside myself when Republican friends would say to me “so you want us to go through another Bush presidency?” Now, these are the same Republicans that blindly defended George W. Bush when he was president. I found myself defending and explaining my choice to fellow Republicans who now were ‘drinking the Trump Cool aide.” I explained that Jeb Bush was a popular Governor of Florida, that he was experienced and that I believed that the George W. presidency would be an advantage for Jeb Bush as he would not fall into making the same mistakes, these were my opinions. My Trump friends noticeably offered less of an explanation for their support of Trump, “He’s going to make America Great Again.” I began to see a change that I didn’t care for. I noticed that in the past disagreeing about a candidate was not a ‘make or break’ in a friendship, especially a candidate of the same party, but it has become just that.
So Here I am. I now consider myself non-affiliated with any party. If you think I’m now a Democrat you would be mistaken. Both parties present a problem for me. Will I vote for a Republican again? Of course I will, the one that has earned my vote. And by that I mean, I require a candidate to be qualified, well informed and not attempt to ‘throw sand in my eyes’ by attacking Gays or immigrants and attempt to impose their religious beliefs to cover for other issues. For Religion I can go to church, as a candidate I need to see leadership, character and values that I also agree with. My vote is not easily attained, it needs to be earned. And I will listen, read and research the candidate running and the person he or she has been to this point. I have always believed that the best interests of our nation come before party, however this world of ‘Tribal Politics’ is in my opinion destructive and is moving our nation backwards not forward. For this reason, I have broken the chains and am an independent thinker and voter, which by the way, is a large group that often times decides election results.
Albie Cooper

