I’m sorry Obama and JFK put a gun to your head and forced you to be a Republican.
In all seriousness, I’m sure you’ve explained this before but what exactly did republicans offer you that you felt was worth making the party switch?
Do you want an actual honest to God answer or a troll?
An honest answer. My first comment was a troll but I’m genuinely curious for your insight.
Well, I became politically engaged after 9/11 which happened when I was 15. I realized I went against the grain of the country and disagreed with Iraq war. So I watched things like Daily Show and Farenheit 9/11. I was a card carrying democratic member and truly believed they were a party of values. I thought they were the good guys. Obama comes and here's a candidate pushing for things I believe in. He wins. He does nothing to act on them. I become politically disengaged as the Democratic party excuse Obama's actions. Turns out the Democratic Party isn't really a party of values or what they think is good. It's just really an opposition to the Republican Party. War crimes and other awfulness is fine as long as the President has a D next to their name.
So I don't vote in 2010 mid terms. This starts my slide against the political establishment and the Democratic Party at large.
I voted Stein in 2012 against Obama.
2016 rolls around, and another candidate I truly believe in surfaces: Bernie Sanders. He loses the nomination. I vote for Hillary Clinton despite HATING her. She loses.
So now Trump, who has fascists qualities, is now president. Survival sense tells me that I need a gun to prepare for what's to come. I buy one. Marjory Stone Douglass shooting happens. CNN has a town hall where people come and talk to the people. Mind you, at this point I still have my progressive views just with guns on top. At the town hall they boo stories of people that actually needed guns such as a woman that was raped. From that moment, I decided to vote Republican for the first time in my life.
It has less to do with what Republicans offer me, and more to do with Democrats didn't. As a reminder, at this point, I already don't like Democrats. It was just the final push. If you don't respect my right to protect myself with a gun, then fuck it. Mind you, the Democratic Party certainly didn't respect the rest of my ideals. Things like anti-imperialism, anti-war, anti-drug war, better healthcare, making for profit prisons illegal, police reform, racial equality. If they do, it's used as a mere prop. So then they're against people having the right to guns while arguing there's a fascist in the office? It was a pretty easy final straw because they already offered me so little.
Finally, I think I have aspergers syndrome which comes with a tendency to have very concrete black and white views that you should note subsist throughout this entire story:
In 2004 when I voted for the first time it was:
Democrats - Good
Republicans - Bad
Same for 2008.
2010 it was:
Democrats - Bad
Republicans Bad.
So I opted not to vote.
Same for 2012 when I voted Green.
Right now I'm more or less at:
America = bad
The two party system literally forces my binary thinking to think one is good or bad. I really have no choice in the matter. I hate that's the way I am, but it's how I am.
