GOP turns me into a partisan
You are free to either believe or disbelieve what I intend to say next, so here goes: I never considered myself to be a fierce political partisan, but in the current political age, that has changed.
It makes me uncomfortable.
The Donald Trump Era in the Republican Party has turned a once-great political organization into a cult following. So many of my GOP friends, I fear, have swilled whatever potion is being served at GOP meetings these days.
Allow me to flash back for just a moment.
My wife and I used to live in Randall County, Texas … or to put it this way, in the southern portion of Amarillo. There isn’t a Democrat to be found occupying any local public office in Randall County, which arguably is the most GOP-friendly county in Texas. Democrats don’t file to run for election in Randall County. The Democratic Party has gone beyond being an endangered species; Democrats in Randall County have all but vanished.
Thus, we used to vote in GOP primary elections because we wanted to have a voice in local government. County offices are held by Republicans. The county is represented in the Texas House by a fine Republican lawmaker, John Smithee; I have voted proudly for his re-election.
I haven’t spoken to Smithee in quite some time, since before we moved from the Panhandle to the D/FW Metroplex. For all I know, Smithee might have joined the cult of personality movement that has infected the Republican Party. If so, that would sadden me.
These days I find myself being profoundly disappointed at the rhetoric I hear from Capitol Hill and from the Texas State Capitol. The rhetoric only stiffens my opposition to what the GOP purports to stand for these days.
I dislike being dismissive of one party’s views for reasons that have little to do with specific issues. I just remained baffled and frustrated in the extreme that a major political party would be swallowed whole by a cult leader.
You might disbelieve this, too: I want the Republican Party to return to its former self, not because I want to join them, but because I favor a strong two-party political and governing system. Today’s Republican Party has morphed into something I do not recognize.