The other morning I went to Danvers Town Hall, found my way to the town clerk’s office and dumped the Republican Party. I’ve been thinking about joining the burgeoning ranks of the unenrolled for months, ever since then-candidate-for-president Donald Trump, the self-described “least racist person,” called Mexicans “criminals and rapists” back in the summer of 2015.
It took me eons, but I finally made the move. The final straw was our president’s recent “sh*thole countries” comments. No decent human being should accept such hate-filled rhetoric. No decent human being should support a political party that tolerates such behavior.
I’ve never been overly political. My mom and dad, bless their souls, were longtime active members of the Beverly Republican City Committee. I registered as a Republican in 1972 partly to please them, the next generation continuing the tradition if you will. (John Prine wrote a great song about his grandpa voting “for Eisenhower ’cause Lincoln won the war.”) But I also appreciated the GOP’s moderate/liberal views on domestic and social policies and conservative economic philosophy. Plus, it seemed whenever Democrats had the majority, taxes went up. Better my hard-earned money should go toward buying Bruce Springsteen concert tickets and the newest Kinks album, thought my young self.
But this is not the Grand Old Party my parents supported. Two of my dad’s favorite sayings were “self praise is no praise” and “treat people the way you’d like to treated.” Perhaps I’m an old fuddy-duddy, but neither seems important to the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. or the conservative whackos who have hijacked the GOP.
I applaud our Republican governor, Charlie Baker, for his forceful condemnation of Trump’s “appalling” “sh*thole” comments. More Republicans should express their outrage. All of those lying butt-kissers rallying to Trump’s defense don’t deserve to hold office. The three GOP U.S. senators and 19 U.S. representatives who aren’t running for re-election should do more than just walk away from the nightmare; they should raise a stink and shame the POTUS every time he embarrasses the nation and behaves like a “sh*thead.”
My union brothers and sisters are probably horrified to learn that I was a registered Republican all the time I and many others represented them and fought hard for their rights on the job. Few of my best buds know. Even the woman who was foolish enough to marry me more than 30 years ago didn’t know I was registered as a Republican until the second year of our marriage, when the town mailed us a notice stating we were registered to vote.
“The town made a mistake,” she said, “it has you listed as a Republican.”
“No mistake. I am registered as a Republican.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“I’m glad I didn’t know,” she joked, “or I would’ve dropped you faster than a Lamborghini.”
My political affiliation just didn’t matter to me. I’ve always voted for the woman or man whose beliefs were most closely aligned to mine, no matter the party. But I must admit the contrarian part of my personality enjoyed being a registered Republican in this bluest of all the blue states. It’s sort of like wearing a Red Sox jersey in Yankee Stadium or a Ted Nugent T-shirt at an Indigo Girls concert.
Sadly, the Democratic Party is in shambles, too. Hillary Clinton was unelectable. Nearly every professional woman I know didn’t vote for her. They didn’t like her and they didn’t trust her. Faced with a Trump presidency, many Americans held their nose and checked off her name on the ballot because the opportunity to elect the first woman president outweighed the negatives. One thing is certain, having Pelosi and Schumer in charge will do nothing to attract the nation’s young adults. At least elected Democrats in Washington are civil and treat all people with respect, even those from “sh*thole” countries.
Both sides are behaving like whining babies during the latest government shutdown. I’d suggest we withhold the paycheck of every senator and representative until they reach a compromise, but for most of these wealthy folks their pay is nothing more than walking-around-money.
President Oprah? Hilarious. Why not Kiefer Sutherland? He kicked butt 24 hours a day and is appropriately empathetic as president on ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” And he’s a pretty good country singer, too. What? He was born in England? Well, I guess we can always rewrite the Constitution. Dilly, dilly!
The crazy 1968 satirical film “Wild in the Streets” has come to mind a lot lately. Its storyline has popular rock singer and aspiring revolutionary Max Frost — a Republican! — elected president when the voting age is lowered to 15. Americans 35 and older are rounded up and sent to “re-education camps,” where they are permanently dosed on LSD. It’s a hoot; check it out … and the movie’s music’s great!
Back to our 45th president: To be fair, not everything has sucked since Trump took office. The stock market has soared. But, as the Blood Sweat & Tears song goes, “What goes up, must come down.” I’m certain the world’s financial network will crash the day after I retire, crippled by some hacker, probably a brainiac from some “sh*thole” nation.
