Manhattan will have a conservative democrat option and I am here for it. This is LONG and I’m sorry, but it struck a chord this morning. I liked this article and it’s not only because he switched parties the way he did R – D. I love it that this guy is willing to take on a Kennedy 👀 It’s bold, if nothing else. Props to him. I love it because so many seats in Texas had no democrat challengers to the republican incumbents for so many years, that democrats stopped going to vote. That meant no republican candidates were willing to switch parties to provide a better challenge. Huh? You know there were some moderates out there, but they were scared of the label. That left millions of Texans without representation. If a moderate democrat could switch parties to get elected in a red district, I could get behind that. So why not a conservative newcomer in Manhatten? Give them a moderate to vote for and see what happens. Who knows… Loyalty to party over principle and single-issue voting are possibly the most detrimental aspects about our system – how it leads good people to stand by silently while bad things happen, or screaming into a void because you have no representation. Checks and balances don’t work if there’s no challenge, no accountability. I switched parties July 19, 2016 when DJT officially received the nomination the first time. You forget, he was not a stranger on the scene… we had all known who he was, and what kind of person, for years…my whole life actually. I still thought maybe, just maybe… we (republicans) would find a way around it. But we didn’t and I was aghast. Still am. My dad was Texan, my mom is from Mississippi and my grandmother was from Louisiana. You don’t get more Southern than my family and many of my principles reflect not only that, but also Kenneth Copeland and my parents evangelical churches, the last of which (for me) unashamedly called democrats “demoncrats” from the pulpit. I have been on mission trips and I’ve worked in third world orphanages during a bloody tribal conflict. I have protested for justice for the unborn. I re-walked the Trail of Tears with supporters of Cherokee Nation and justice for Native Americans. I have watched as a protester at a KKK rally was the one arrested. And I have protested, and will continue to, a president that defies the law and incited a riot in our nation’s Capitol on this day, 5 years ago. My principles are not tied to a party. They are me. My experiences. The injustices I’ve seen. The privilege I have enjoyed. I can tell you, many people are not far apart in their beliefs but if they vote according to party, not conscience, there is an ever-widening chasm between them. It is befuddling. It can all feel like so much – the constant drama. But there is much-needed reason and middle ground to be found in this world of extremes and it takes thoughtful conversations to find it. What radicalized me? I guess if you consider speaking my opinion radical then growing up singing, “This land is my land, this land is your land,” taught me that I had the right to use my voice. I can tell you what many Texas republicans think of democrats is propaganda. Sitting here, sipping coffee in Montgomery County, TX almost my entire world is republican 😆 That’s why you hear so much about trans issues, attacks of Christians and “blue haired” this and that. It is customized for you… it’s meant to make you think they are so far apart from you in principle that there’s no common ground to be found. It’s propaganda. It’s effective until you start talking to real people and find you can bridge those ideological gaps. That they aren’t chasms after all, this isn’t “no man’s land” filled with hidden danger…but if nobody shines light from either side, we’ll never know that.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Reflections of a Working Mom 
Leave a comment