Why I Quit the Republican Party
I have been
a lifelong Republican. Today, June 23,
2016, after more than forty years, I changed my registration to
“Independent.” In good conscience I
cannot be a member of a political party whose leaders have made common cause
with Donald Trump.
No
political party is perfect. I have never
supported every idea endorsed in Republican Party platforms. On the other hand, I’ve never been tempted to join the Democrats; on the whole
Republican ideas make more sense. Over
the years, I have voted for Republicans, Independents, Democrats, and assorted
minor party candidates. I am not a
policy purist quitting the Republican Party in protest over some minor detail.
Donald
Trump is not a minor detail. Republican
leaders in Congress, city governments and statehouses need to reckon carefully. The election of 2016 presents their party
with a moment of truth. What does the
Republican Party stand for?
Trump is
wrong on trade. His protectionist ideas
would greatly damage the U.S. economy.
He wants to return to policies of the 1920s that helped make the Great
Depression.
Trump is
wrong—disastrously, mind-bogglingly wrong—on immigration. Deport 11 million people? This bizarre notion, if actually enacted,
would provoke massive public resistance.
Force Mexico to pay for a “wall” on our border? How?
By military threats? Given the
worldwide economic chaos resulting from Trump’s protectionism, economic threats
would be idle.
Trump is
wrong on international law. He openly
said he would order U.S. military persons to “go after” the wives and families
of suspected terrorists. Such orders would
violate international law, laws ratified by the U.S. in accordance with our
Constitution. Such orders would be
completely immoral.
Trump is
wrong about “making America strong.” Has
he never seen the Statue of Liberty? We
have often failed to live up to our beliefs, but America is a country that
welcomes strangers. Excluding a whole
class of people because of their religion and “profiling” people because of
their religion—two ideas explicitly and repeatedly endorsed by Trump—are
antithetical to American values.
Most
important (for me at least), Trump is wrong about Jesus. Trump thinks that he can fool Christian
Americans that he is a follower of Jesus, though Trump said he cannot remember
ever repenting of sin. Never
repent—despite failed marriages, multiple bankruptcies, countless lawsuits, and
a history of bragging (on radio!) about his marital infidelities.
Don’t
misunderstand me. I don’t oppose Trump
because he is not a Christian. I have
cheerfully voted for Muslims, Jews, atheists, and candidates whose religion I
don’t know. My objection is that Trump
tries to sell himself as a Christian with apparently no recognition of the
first theme in Jesus’ preaching: repentance.
As far as I
can tell, Donald Trump believes in nothing except Donald Trump. According to him, he has the world’s greatest
memory, one of the world’s best brains, a more than adequate penis, and an easy
answer for every one of the nation’s problems.
What he obviously does not have is humility.
The leaders of the party of
Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Mark Hatfield should be ashamed—not that Trump
has won the party’s nomination; Trump won the nomination, given the nature of
the process. What is shameful is their
willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with Trump in the hope of temporary
electoral success. There are greater
principles at stake here. Republican
leaders must repudiate Trumpism; if the price is electoral defeat, so be it.
Donald Trump is now the titular
head of the Republican Party. Therefore
I cannot be a Republican. I hope to
someday return to the fold, but not until the party has repaired this disaster.
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