The other day, a few days before the Missouri primary, I stayed home to do honey-dos around the old hacienda, mostly yard work. I had stepped inside for a moment, and then I went back outside through the garage, out to the front of our house. As I did so a middle-aged, somewhat matronly woman was walking down our front sidewalk away from our front door.
I saw a stack of red flyers in her hand, so I asked, “Are you canvassing for a Republican?”
She nodded yes.
That is when the demons took hold of me and I went on a bit of a rant.
“Just so you know, I would never, ever vote for a Republican. I would never vote for the party that has the convicted felon, Trump, as it leader, for a party that refuses to condemn January 6th, for the party that is hell bent on taking away our voting rights, for the party that is taking away women’s reproductive rights, for the party that is vilifying immigrants whose only real crime is seeking a better life, for the party that refuses to allow us to do anything about the gun violence epidemic in this country, for the party who wants to cut taxes on the one percent who already have more than their fair share, for the party that is banning books, for the party that wants to re-criminalize homosexuality, for the party that has been bullying young people struggling to find their gender identity, for the party that has engineered what is probably the most corrupt Supreme Court in our history, for the party whose leader idolizes and wants to emulate dictators such as Putin, Kim Jong Un and Orbán… ”
As I paused for a minute to catch my breath, I looked at her more closely. There was an expression somewhere between fear and disbelief on her face.
So I concluded by remarking, “You are wasting your time here.”
At that point she took advantage of the lull in the storm to exit stage left.
A few days before that, I was having a lazy morning when the door bell rang. I hurriedly put on some clothes and went to answer the front door. The first thing I saw was a red door hanger with the name of the Republican running for state representative in this area. A gentleman was just leaving, and as he was using a Segway to canvas the neighborhood, he had on a helmet and sunglasses.
Just as an aside it was the Republican governor that recently eliminated the motorcycle helmet law in Missouri. And yes motorcycle deaths and injury rates have increased significantly.
When I opened the front door Mr. Segway looked back. It was at this point that I ripped up the door hanger, stating that I would never, ever vote for a Republican. He replied by telling me to have a good day and leaving. Funny part is that it may well have been the candidate himself, but it was hard to tell with the helmet and sunglasses.
While I cannot remember ever voting for a Republican, I used to at least consider them and pay attention to what they were saying. Sadly it has become a bit of a litmus test for me. Anyone willing to identify as a Republican with the current MAGA iteration of the Party of Lincoln, I find beyond intolerable.
I knew I was very angry about what the Republicans have done to this country and are trying to do to the country. Until these two incidences I did not realize how angry I really was.
Obviously, JMR, I cleaned up my comments grammatically and expanded them a bit. Allow an old curmudgeon a little literary license, if you please. It was essentially what I harangued this poor woman with.
Since 1974 I have told as many people as I can that the Republican Party is Morally, Ethically, Intellectually, and Philosophically bankrupt. Sadly that party has dissolved into the current MAGAt party. May they rest in hell.
LOL! Exactly what went through my brain – he has a script he reads from?
Perfect response.
This is exactly how I feel about the Red Party. Well said.
Flying Monkeys, all of them and their DEMIGOD leader.