The Road to my Conversion

Friends,

For a long time I have been a party faithful soldiering on when the GOP wandered all over the political map. No longer. The nation wants steadfast leadership, not wobbly polls driven drivel.

Politics is not a sporting event. The team you are on is not a matter of personal preference, but an expression of your core values. The GOP has abandoned her core values, and myself, and many like me.

The GOP was formed to rid the US of Slavery (or more precisely, to elect Abraham Lincoln who rid the US of Slavery) and it accomplished its mission. It's time to retire the party and form a new one (or join an existing one) that will safe guard the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.

When Vern Buchanan, a "conservative" and my congressional representative, cast his vote to spend 850 Billion dollars to shore up a failing system in a way that systematically rewards the careless I knew the light had vanished from the GOP.

My grandfather was a life long proud Democrat, right up until Jimmy Carter appeared on the national stage. Then he voted for Ronald Reagan and set forth an example that I have not forgotten. Politics is not a team sport. It is an ideological discussion. Values over mascots. Principles over tradition. Integrity in the face of opposition.

The question facing America today is "Will we return to slavery?" The Democrats wish to hold people of color in bondage via the debilitating effects of government largess. The GOP wishes to join them in the race. That leaves the rest of us to hold the line.

It is up to us to hold the line on government encroachment and government spending. Neither major party is willing to do it. With this in mind I must depart the party and start fresh.

Char-Lez Braden