When I Became a Republican

I've always worked in schools and libraries where my political leanings differed markedly from those of most of my colleagues. I found that if I didn't discuss my beliefs, they would assume that I was- like any right-thinking pseudo intellectual- a liberal. I will, however, tell anyone who asks the truth. One coworker was so shocked that she called me an anomaly. "Anomaly?" I asked. "Yeah," she replied, "an intelligent Republican." "Actually," I informed her, "I like to think of myself as an enlightened Republican."

As a teenager, my daughter once asked, "Mom, when did you become a Republican?"
Facetiously, I replied, "when I started paying taxes."

She asked because the joke around here is that when I turned eighteen, I turned around and used my newly granted right to vote to cast a ballot for McGovern. I also voted for.... I'm going to say it...confession is good for the soul...I also voted for Jimmy Carter. Now, I'm a card carrying Republican.

It was Ronald Reagan who brought me back to my senses, back to the good learnin' my parents had given me. It's not that I liked Reagan. When he was elected President, I thought it showed that if you ran for the office often enough, you'd eventually make it.

But Reagan had one incredible gift. He was a true believer. He believed in this marvelous ideal of the United States of America. I have this theory that God watches over us and gives us exactly the President that we need at the time. Here, he was, after the stomach turning glee with which they went after Nixon, the despretigio of Vietnam, the enthusiasm for trashing those institutions we held dear, saying it was okay to believe. I could literally feel the morale of the emotionally bankrupt nation rise again.

So I am a Republican. I don't subscribe to all the party positions. But then, I don't agree with most of the Democrat positions. I am not a small-minded, mean person. But, I've seen the other side, and I want no part in a world where political expediency dictates policy, where there is no respect for the authority of office, the sanctity of marriage, the right of self-determination, where national morality is determined by what new fad is in vogue with the majority, and smoking is pursued with more zeal than terrorism. A world where scurrilous and unproved accusations are leveled at my President nightly, but the propaganda of a murderous regime is accepted verbatim.