My journey away from the Republican Party

In 2008, I was a young Republican in my early twenties. My priority issues at the time were the economy and the military. Back then, much of my understanding of those issues was surface deep while social issues had not yet become topics of great interest for me. This was, in retrospect, primarily due to my privileged upbringing and adolescent lack of empathy.

I believed in smaller government, free market economics, and a strong military - all core pillars of the Republican platform. But I hadn't yet considered in any meaningful way issues like gender equality, civil liberties, racial justice, and so many other critical social and moral challenges of our time. I knew I supported women and people of all races, but I didn’t yet comprehend their struggles and the universal imperative to fight for progress.

At that same time in 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the first Black President of the United States. I was proud of the racial milestone but supported his rival John McCain in that election for political and leadership reasons.

Then, I watched in confusion and disbelief as the Republican base and Republican leadership began morphing into a movement of vitriol and pettiness towards our newly elected President. A racist undertone was apparent to me from the very beginning. At first, I figured the racism was contained to the fringes of the Republican Party and would be snuffed out soon enough.

Just two years later in 2010, the extremist wing of the Republican Party - known then as the Tea Party - surged to power. They were the movement responsible for the birther conspiracy theory, which sought to delegitimize Barack Obama's presidency for no plausible reason other than because he was Black. It was a disgusting and disheartening spectacle to watch. I began to wonder how deep bigotry reached within the modern Republican Party.

Around 2012, I had become increasingly uncomfortable with where the Republican Party was heading. As I was maturing into my late twenties, I began to reassess my political beliefs while tracking closely the rhetoric and actions of my Party's leadership. Despite my misgivings and growing discomfort of the Party’s trajectory, I voted for Mitt Romney in that year's presidential election. It was a decision based mainly on my confidence in his leadership ability and my admiration for his good character, rather than on my evolving political leanings. My hope was that a good-hearted and capable leader could help the Republican Party correct course while helping strengthen the country as a whole.

By 2015, I had seen enough. After 6 baffling years of blatant bigotry, extreme obstructionism, and outright incompetence, I left the Republican Party and became a registered independent. At that point, it was a clear-eyed decision based entirely on the overwhelming evidence that the Republican movement had severely lost its way.

Throughout the 2015-2016 election season, I watched as one of my biggest nightmares became a reality. One of the two major American Parties had allowed itself to be taken over by a dangerous lunatic who so clearly posed an existential threat to the country. The Republican Party was now led by a morally-bankrupt, comprehensively-corrupt, hate-filled egomaniac who couldn’t care less about Republican values or democratic ideals.

The next four years were nothing short of excruciating as the world watched even the most revered Republicans bow and grovel to the monster they created. We were forced to watch in horror as he and his evil sycophants systematically tore apart so much of what Republicans once claimed to hold dear - decency, compassion, inclusion, patriotism, democracy itself.

Today - 6 years since the infamous golden escalator speech of hate and all the destruction that followed - 8 in 10 Republicans STILL support that monster. Despite all the authoritarian behavior, all the treasonous acts, all the big lies told, all the laws broken, and all the American values shattered, Republicans look to that man with fervor and passionately chant “That’s our leader!”

THAT’S how I know my instincts back in 2008 were correct and THAT’S how I know it was right in 2015 to leave the Republican Party.

What began as troubling signs over a decade ago has turned into horrifying realities that now threaten all Americans and all people around the world. I realize most right-leaning Americans don’t see it that way, but the evidence is unequivocal nonetheless.

How exactly the United States of America got to such a dangerous place is for historians to analyze.

How one former young Republican found his way out of the depths of darkness, is a humbling tale of following the evidence and having the courage to change.

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