The Foundation

I wasn't always living as a non-Republican in the modern South. I was fairly politically aware as a youngster. I knew Jimmy Carter was stupid, and God called Ronald Reagan for advice every night. I was routinely frustrated to see those godless Democrats continually winning elections at the local level all the way up to Congress. I wondered how anybody could support them, not necessarily because of any particular position they took, but mainly because Ronnie Reagan said they were the enemy. Later I learned that the Democrats wanted to take all the money I'd worked so hard for just to give it to some lazy welfare mama spitting out kids just to get a bigger check. In 1994, the new Republican slogan of compassionate Conservatism further cemented me in the notion that it was impossible to truly be a Christian and be an evil Democrat. After all, the Democrats wanted to kill your baby and force you to watch gay men sodomize each other. I was elected Vice President of Teen Age Republicans at my high school, volunteered for a couple campaigns, and voted as Republican as Haley Barbour could possibly have wished. I got my bachelor's and master's degrees in political science and public policy from the best university in the south that I've loved since I was a child. My Republican love affair continued until I was 30, at which time I got an up close, behind the scenes look at the Republican machine at work.

I had been working for a democrat elected official for 4 years just to get my foot in the political door after grad school. He was one of the old southern democrat holdouts, and I went to church with him. So, I had an inroad into my dream career. He was a nice guy, and looking back on my experience with him, it wasn't nearly so bad as I thought it to be while he was in charge. I'm not sure how much is attributable to the rose colored glasses of history or if it was so much better in comparison to what followed.

After a four year term with a not-so-evil Democrat, a glorious new Republican was elected to fill the seat after the Democrat decided not to run again. I was quite excited. I was getting a new boss that didn't have a skewed word view, who was going to right the wrongs, and couldn't help but make things better. Instead, every stereotype those evil Democrats exaggerated and, I was sure, completely fabricated about the Republicans started, not just lurking in the shadows, but parading down the hall screaming and  flipping everybody the bird.

I had never witnessed politics behind the scenes as I did while watching the regime change. It is an ugly process. The office got much whiter immediately. It got much younger, with people being hired because daddy was a donor, or they had campaigned. These hires weren't always without merit, don't get me wrong. The best intern I could ever imagine, with whom I still keep in touch, came in the first summer of the new regime.

The Republicans that I had looked forward to taking the reins were mean spirited, closet racist, sexist, lying, short tempered, back stabbing, popularity whores. All of those traits directly led to my walking away after 8 years of doing the job that I loved. It was what I'd gone to college to do. I was good at it too.

Not only did my job experience put a bad taste in my mouth for the not-so-awesome Republicans. So too has the morphing world view that has come about from the daily challenges of being in a wheelchair. The old saying about not being able to understand someone until you walk a mile in their shoes is pumped full of truth. I feel like there are many people that have been blessed with health and money that have a hard time thinking about what life is like for folks with different blessings. The perception, whether there is truth behind it or not, is that the GOP is very focused on cutting off the dregs of society who have gotten lazy and be come takers instead of working hard to be takers. Apparently 47% of us are lazy takers according to failed Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Is it just a problem getting the message across as has been suggested by Haley Barbour, or is it a problem with the message itself?

My faith also prevents me from continuing to identify with the party of Lincoln. Jesus Christ spent most of his time ministering to the sick, the weak, those that wouldn't be considered righteous. I'm firmly convinced that ministering to these people, be it through government assistance or charitable donations, is one of our primary responsibilities. The real or perceived greed of the party is something I just haven't figured how to reconcile with my faith.

Don't confuse my distaste for the Republicans to mean I'm a Democrat either. My time on the planet has taught me one overreaching characteristic of every human I've ever met. Nobody is perfect. Nobody is all bad, nor is anybody all good. We are walking, talking, breathing perpetual contradictions. My experiences have led me to believe that the political process is broken. While the parties swing left, right, and center, they continually operate in a corrupted environment. Can it be fixed? I don't know. Will anybody try? I don't know. Will it be easy? No!

In the meantime, I'll be an informed outsider living in a fiercely Republican land. I'll be a member of neither of the competing parties, and apparently an enemy of both. But, a rocks glass of single malt and wisps of smoke perfuming the porch, foretelling the unctuous pulled pork sammiches, makes the stress of my politics fade into the background.

Cheers...