I Used To Be A Democrat

Your path is so like mine. I was raised a Democrat. Hard work, fairness, family and God first...those were the values. Now, you can still hear those words in the Dem party, but not the actions...the policies have been hijacked and twisted to be so extreme that they have created an upside down world that sabotages the very values they claim to uphold.
Your son's college quest was your watershed moment; Sept. 11, 2001 was mine. It was incomprehensible to me until I challenged my liberal-minded premises...once I dropped those - it was all crystal clear. The same basic values were still there - the filter changed.
Now, I strongly advocate for conservative principles and candidates, and use my former life as a Democrat to improve my ability to take these arguments to those who are like you, and me - and just haven't realized it yet.
Glad you're out there - I think there are a lot of us!
Come visit my blog sometime, if you haven't already!
Thanks for the great read this morning...I hope someone else recognizes him or herself in it.

It gives me hope to hear of such a transformation. The truth is, there is good on both sides. Both Republicans and Democrats want what's best for this country. Both are passionate about what they believe is best, and about what they fear will result from putting the "other side" in power. But you're absolutely right, the means of achieving the good that we all aspire to couldn't be more different. And they're not both right.

The only thing worse than capitalism is every other economic system that has been tried. It's so easy to point out the flaws in capitalism, and socialism and other similar isms have such a strong academic appeal. But in practice, where real people behave under real self interest, capitalism is the best we have. Democrats don't believe that. They want to believe, in their heart of heart, that if we all just loved our fellow man and wanted what's best for everyone, there would be no failure, and nobody would fall through the cracks. It sounds great, and in a Utopian future where man has evolved to a state of true altruism, perhaps it will be true. But at the moment, only an oppressive government that forces its citizens to behave as their imposed economic system requires can achieve any kind of success to match that of capitalism (see China).

So we must make a choice. Either a free economy and personal freedoms, or a controlled economy and a loss of freedoms.