Democrats Suck, Republicans Are Worse. I'm Going Third Party

A Former Republican Turned Former Democrat Gives Five Reasons Why He's Going Green

In 1980, as a high school sophomore I was inspired by Ronald Reagan and I became a Republican. His patriotic optimism and the way that he encouraged Americans to feel good about who we are, as a people, was a refreshing change. I couldn't vote for him the first time but I did in 1984. In 1985 I was President of the College Republicans at the University of West Florida. This was the time when Florida was still a heavily Democratic state and being in the GOP was very unpopular. In 1988 I voted for George H.W. Bush, because I still considered myself a Republican and as an active duty sailor in the US Navy, I thought Michael Dukakis photo op in the tank was stupid.

Between 1988 and 1992 my political leanings took a decided turn to the left. In 1988 I participated in what President Reagan referred to as "Freedom of Navigation Exercises" in the Gulf of Sidra, off the coast of Libya. Watching these exercises unfold I realized that they were nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to provoke a response from Libya. To be sure the Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi was a bad guy, and a supporter of anti-American terrorists, but the operation that my ship participated in wasn't in any way a response to terror. It was outright belligerence.

In 1989 I stopped drinking. Through the work that I did in therapy and in AA groups I began to rebuild my relationship with God and the more closely I understood my spirituality the more I moved away from the Republican Party. The party had moved squarely into the realm of the evangelical Christian movement and had developed a philosophy that practically required all so-called Republicans to be in agreement with fundamentalist Christian doctrine in order to participate in party politics. There were many "litmus tests" that politicians had to pass in order to win GOP primaries. By 1992 I had left the Republican Party and I voted for Bill Clinton for President and a complete slate of down ballot Democrats.