Why I Won't Vote for ANY Republican

Once upon a time I voted for the candidate irrespective of party. I voted for Republicans, I voted for Democrats, I voted for Libertarians, I voted for Independents. I agreed with some of the things that Republicans did and disagreed with some of the things Democrats did. I voted according to whom I thought would best represent or lead my state, district, city or the nation.

That all changed for me after the 2008 presidential election.

The mission of the Republican Party, during the presidency of Barack Obama, changed from principled opposition to obstruction at any cost. And the cost turned out to be pretty steep: acceptance of the radicals of the Tea Party fringe as mainstream; acceptance of the virulent strain of bigoted and racist hatred of a black man who dared to run for president, including the claim that Obama was not a United States citizen, promoted vigorously by now-President Donald Trump; and a program of digging in their heels and mindlessly opposing and obstructing everything that President Obama did. This obstruction was fairly easy to spot, it required no interpretation or speculation, but was stated clearly by none other than the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. It was expressed throughout Obama's terms by dozens of fruitless attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and culminated in McConnell's refusal to confirm, or even hold a hearing for, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. Republicans at every level of government seemed to be on board with this and Republican voters seemed to buy into the apparent racism and irrational hatred for Obama.

In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected President, it got even worse. Trump built upon the mindless and overblown demonization of President Obama, Secretary Clinton and liberals in general that prevailed among many Republican voters and made it the centerpiece of his governing style. He emboldened white supremacists, neo-Nazis and others and exacerbated the already deep divisions within the country. The mainstream Republicans could have stood against the worst of his impulses while still supporting his policies (if you could dignify his brainless meanderings as "policies") that they agreed with, but they didn't. The Republican Congressional leadership, as well as state-level Republicans only intensified their support for Trump. They were prepared to prop him up, no matter what outrages and idiocies he perpetrated, as long as they could get conservative judges and tax cuts for the rich. And they continue to prop him up in the face of graft and corruption on an unprecedented scale, as well as incompetence and ignorance in virtually all matters.

Now we hear that in two states, Michigan and Wisconsin, Republican lame duck sessions of state legislatures are in the process of passing laws that restrict the power of incoming Democratic elected officials, officials who are replacing outgoing Republicans. The same thing happened in 2016 in North Carolina. Here is Lincoln, local Republicans pushed through a charter amendment restricting a Democratic mayor, who had already declared that he would run for re-election, from running again. Our Republican governor has used his own funds to "primary" other Republicans who would not vote in lockstep with him. So, when "the people" speak by voting out Republicans, the Republicans petulantly change the rules so that the will of "the people" is circumvented.

While theoretically there may be decent Republicans out there, and some may be good for their states, cities, the nation, anyone who aligns themself with the Republican Party, has by default, aligned themself with all of the sins enumerated above. Someday the Republican Party may heal itself, but that day has not yet come.