Recently I was asked why I had chosen to be a republican, and the question made me stop. I guess I'd never asked myself that before, and so I decided it would be a good idea to brainstorm this question. After all, if I'm going to vote this way, I should know why, shouldn't I? It has been my rule that, almost always, I vote strictly republican. I have deviated once or twice, but as a rule I do not stray.
I certainly was not born into a republican family. I believe I was told that my father had changed to the democratic party when Franklin Roosevelt was first elected. Dad was impressed with the new programs that were begun, helping the working man to get back on his feet, establishing the Social Security program, and many other reasons that caused so many people to vote for the man for four terms of the office of President of the United States. From FDR on my dad was a firm democrat, and initially I followed along. I remember watching the Democratic Convention in the early fifties, in black and white of course, when Adlai Stevenson ran for office and listening to all the speeches.
When John Fitzgerald Kennedy campaigned for office I became enamored with his charisma and good looks, along with the rest of the country. I followed everything that had to do with his wife, Jackie. I wore pillbox hats with my hair in a flip bouffant style. I watched every speech that he made that was telecast, and I even used his inaugural speech in my Speech class in high school as a text to learn public speaking. (I did an excellent job in my delivery, but I was docked points on my grade because I had chosen a speech that was delivered by a man, not a woman. I guess I should have chosen something poetic because in those days there weren't many women giving speeches or even speaking in public. This is a bane that does not exist is today's society, as it is considered sexist.) My ill-educated opinion of JFK was that he could do no wrong. He became a god in many people's minds when he served, and in mine as well.
So. There are all of the reasons I considered myself a democrat and voted thus in the first couple of elections that I was privileged to participate in; my dad and JFK.
I wish I could say that I can remember the day that I made a conscious decision to vote republican, but I cannot. I believe there were quite a few years that I was irresponsible enough to choose not to vote. I probably did not vote during the 70's, and it's quite possible that extended into the 80's. At some point I must have discovered some of the tenets of each party and that caused me to change my views on what I wanted to see in the Senate, Congress, and in the White House. I will tell you that, even though some people think that this is not appropriate thinking, I will almost always vote for the person who is against abortion. That's a deal breaker for me. Abortion is a topic that I am, have always been, and always will be, passionate about.
The Republican Party has been, for as long as I can remember, a conservative party that does not agree with a woman's choice to end the life of her child while in the womb. I concur. Many might think that this is a prerequisite for a republican, but there are many republicans that are not against abortion. Republicans stand for more than preservation of life, but for the absence of government in the daily living of the American public. The fact of government telling me how I can spend my money is absurd. Uncle Sam now wants to choose (a) if I am insured, (b) who I am insured by, (c) how I am insured, making the responsibility for all these decisions theirs. It wants to decide for me if I take a certain medicine, get a certain treatment, extending all the way to whether or not my life is worth living.
So, what it comes down to is the reason I am voting on a Republican ticket is that I agree with their promise of less government intrusion in my life. I reconcile banning abortion with my belief that a pregnant woman carries a life form, already a person and deserving all of its constitutional rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Murder is murder, no matter at what age, and it is illegal and immoral.
Now I will pass the questions on to you. Do you vote? Have you decided what you believe? Your vote does count, though some will try to convince you that it doesn't. Make your decision, and vote.
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