How I evolved from a Red Republican to a Purple Independent...
Growing up in a political household of Republicans shaped my own personal political leanings at a very young age. I've been reading the Washington Times, the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times (for liberal research purposes) since I was five... so you can imagine my family's surprise when I decided to hang up my spurs and quit the life of a Republican political strategist.
Looking back, I can remember three distinct instances where I began question everything that I believed growing up.
The first happened on the '88 campaign for then Vice President Bush's presidential run... out on the trail in the month of August, an Evangelical Christian approached me, introduced himself and then tried to convert me. Now my mother is Christian and my father is Jewish so I'm kinda in limbo and have always relished this position. Later that evening though I began to question how I felt about the separation of church and state, what that meant to me and lastly, what that meant for the Republican party.
My next gut check, if you will, occured ten years later in 1998 as I sat at the head of our family political strategy company when a Neoconservative came in and wanted our take on how a transition to "Iraq regime change" in U.S. foreign policy through the use of force would affect the party. During this meeting, I realized that the promotion of democracy is a very noble pursuit, however when the man standing in front of me fully supported the use of our military to fulfill this objective, I felt myself disagreeing with him.
And the last straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I was working my heart our for Senator John McCain in 2000 and after our tremendous win in New Hampshire, we were hit with a push poll that stopped us cold... a very ugly push poll. That's one of the problems with politics, there's no referee. The only check is a man's conscience and ethical standards in terms of what he's willing to allow to get himself elected, re-elected or even sell a war to the American public based on ideology of the past when our true enemy has just been discovered.
Now, when I step back and think about it, these three instances clearly influenced my current thinking... there should be a separation of church and state, I believe that the Neocon's foreign policy of spreading democracy at the point of a gun and taking our eye off of Al Queda won't work and that I detest the dirty political tricks and partisan tactics that has become politics. But on the flip side, I still believe we need to be fiscally conservative, have a hawkish foreigh policy toward terrorists and rogue countries, reduce our defict and trade imbalance, secure our borders and many other Right leaning ideas... but those three mentioned above and how the Bush 2.0 administration has embraced each has pushed me away from my former party.
Looking back, I can remember three distinct instances where I began question everything that I believed growing up.
The first happened on the '88 campaign for then Vice President Bush's presidential run... out on the trail in the month of August, an Evangelical Christian approached me, introduced himself and then tried to convert me. Now my mother is Christian and my father is Jewish so I'm kinda in limbo and have always relished this position. Later that evening though I began to question how I felt about the separation of church and state, what that meant to me and lastly, what that meant for the Republican party.
My next gut check, if you will, occured ten years later in 1998 as I sat at the head of our family political strategy company when a Neoconservative came in and wanted our take on how a transition to "Iraq regime change" in U.S. foreign policy through the use of force would affect the party. During this meeting, I realized that the promotion of democracy is a very noble pursuit, however when the man standing in front of me fully supported the use of our military to fulfill this objective, I felt myself disagreeing with him.
And the last straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I was working my heart our for Senator John McCain in 2000 and after our tremendous win in New Hampshire, we were hit with a push poll that stopped us cold... a very ugly push poll. That's one of the problems with politics, there's no referee. The only check is a man's conscience and ethical standards in terms of what he's willing to allow to get himself elected, re-elected or even sell a war to the American public based on ideology of the past when our true enemy has just been discovered.
Now, when I step back and think about it, these three instances clearly influenced my current thinking... there should be a separation of church and state, I believe that the Neocon's foreign policy of spreading democracy at the point of a gun and taking our eye off of Al Queda won't work and that I detest the dirty political tricks and partisan tactics that has become politics. But on the flip side, I still believe we need to be fiscally conservative, have a hawkish foreigh policy toward terrorists and rogue countries, reduce our defict and trade imbalance, secure our borders and many other Right leaning ideas... but those three mentioned above and how the Bush 2.0 administration has embraced each has pushed me away from my former party.
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