Why I Became a Progressive Democrat

As some of you already know, I am a fairly recent convert to the Democratic Party after many years of being a Republican. I was raised in a conservative family and identified with the GOP from the time I was young, in the same way that a kid grows up being an Eagles fan or Giants fan. As a Republican loyalist, I accepted the tenets of Republican conservatism, without really questioning those beliefs or looking critically at the statements, jokes and attitudes of most Republicans, especially rank-and-file conservatives. It is far easier to adhere to the teachings of one's childhood than to question everything and to seek the truth with a skeptical mind.

I was raised in a very conservative, devout Catholic family and I identified with the Republican Party from a young age. Unfortunately, most of my family members espoused racist and bigoted views, causing me to be far less sensitive to social injustice than I should have been. Adding to my ignorance and cluelessness in my early years was the systemic racism and inequality present at all levels of American society in the late 80's and 90's. From the time I was a little boy, these injustices were ever-present, sometimes seeming right and natural to a certain degree, as horrible as that was.

As I got older, I espoused many theoretical tenets of conservatism, namely smaller government, fewer regulations, lower taxes, opposition to abortion, a discomfort with same-sex marriage, favoring a strong military, etc. These doctrines I accepted at face value and didn't really question until much later in life. In my twenties, I even watched Fox News for a while, believing the "facts" provided by Bill O'Reilly and others that supported my uninformed, twisted world view. This was many years ago, in the 2000s. Despite my conservatism, I did reject my Roman Catholic upbringing, favoring an increasing degree of separation between church and state. I was put off by the fear used by the Roman Catholic Church to gain greater power over society and more control over the political process.

I did have some other liberal sensibilities, though, that increased as I grew older and wiser. I was never a fan of overt bigotry or cruelty, trying to treat people of other races with respect, as equals, and opposing racist jokes and statements by others. Getting along with other people was always important to me, so I avoided unnecessary conflict while trying to understand where people were coming from. I also became much more accepting of LGBT individuals after meeting and befriending some while experiencing the bar scene in my twenties. In 2012 my understanding of man-made climate change evolved after I had an online conversation with AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Anderson, debunking the myth of global warming being a natural cycle, caused by sunspots and solar flares.

Around this time, in 2012/2013, I quickly became very disillusioned by the extremes of the Tea Party and the increasingly abhorrent rhetoric coming from many voices on the right, especially from demagogues like Rush Limbaugh. I voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, but have never voted Republican since. After that election, I began to seriously question the beliefs and rhetoric of traditional American conservatism. By the summer of 2014, I decided that the Republican Party was no longer worthy of my vote or support, and that many Democratic candidates were much better, including now-Governor Tom Wolf, Congressman Matt Cartwright and other local Democratic candidates running in the 2014 mid-term elections.

By Election Day 2014, I identified with the Democratic Party, instead of the GOP. I have always enjoyed visiting urban areas and interacting with people from all walks of life; I, therefore, couldn't understand right-wing bigots who avoided diverse cities like the plague and refused to interact with blacks and Latinos. In early 2015, I finally got around to changing my voter registration from Republican to Independent. I had fully embraced liberalism and identified with the Democratic Party, but I still needed some time to finally register as a Democrat, something that I did in January 2016, in time for Pennsylvania's presidential primary. I supported Hillary Clinton in the April 26th primary, but also came to appreciate the ideas being presented by Bernie Sanders in his first presidential campaign.

There are several key issues that were central to my somewhat sudden ideological shift; these issues have now taken on newfound importance; they are: racial equality, gender equality, environmental protection, world peace, addressing economic inequality, criminal justice reform, health care reform, and the Republican Party's fondness for conspiracy theories and anti-intellectual sentiment. I want to see society as it actually is and learn about history as it actually took place. Conservatives have an overly-positive, idealistic view of American history, whereas liberals acknowledge past wrongdoings. Manifest Destiny was morally reprehensible, as it was used to destroy Native American settlements in the West. This was a continuation of the slaughter than began with Christopher Columbus and his band of armed thugs.

Race doesn't determine our worth as a person. We are all created equal, so we should all be treated with equal respect, given the same opportunities to succeed. The Republican Party has for many decades worked to perpetuate a system of de-facto racial segregation, discrimination and hostility. I grew up in this system of inequality and injustice, largely blind to what was really happening in society, and to how conservatives were largely to blame for it. Once I started paying more attention, I realized that many Republicans didn't share the level of human compassion that I found in my heart for people around me.

As a young conservative in my twenties, I was constantly exposed to media and rhetoric that was sexist, though largely subtle - at least until I got to be older - forcing me to come to terms with many things being said about women. I came to believe that conservatives really were waging a "war on women." This trend, of course, was greatly accelerated after my political conversion, when the Republican electorate soundly rejected the influx of newer, more diverse voices within the party, in favor of an older, aggressive, loud-mouthed bigot.

The environment has been ravaged and largely destroyed by mankind. I grew up believing that the environmental movement was entirely composed of lies and liberal propaganda, but eventually came to learn that we are stewards of the earth and that it is legitimately under assault, and needs protection. We are suffering from rapid, destructive, man-made climate change, as well as many forms of air and water pollution, driving animal species to extinction and wiping out the rainforests. Prominent Republicans have really known this for years, but continue to ignore this because they favor the wealthy, powerful elites, such as executives of ExxonMobil, who are responsible for raping the earth.

I started out favoring the Iraq War in 2003, but came to question it around 2005, as it turned into a quagmire. I completely turned against the war in the Obama years, as I could see what a waste it had been. The war cost 4,500 American lives and took a major financial toll. A large, aggressive military is a massive drain on America’s finances, in stark contrast to conservatives’ focus on fiscal discipline and balancing the federal budget. This is just one example of conservative hypocrisy. The cocky foreign policy of the neo-cons and other Republicans has also greatly hurt America’s prestige abroad. If our government is to spend taxpayers’ dollars, it should spend it to help people, rather than to harm them.

I read a lot of books and magazine about economic inequality in the early 2010s, facilitating my political metamorphosis. I took out a college-level sociology book from the Bethlehem Area Public Library and read The New York Times and The New Yorker Magazine at area coffee shops. I came to understand that laissez-faire capitalism harmed nearly everyone. I came to realize that the conspiracy theories spread around about President Barack Obama were just that. Obama is indeed a very wise, transformative leader; he learned many valuable lessons about American society during his years of community organizing in Chicago. He himself was the victim of a lot of racism and saw the effects that racism had on members of the African-American community in Chicago. Starting in 2014, I came to view him as a great American president, who used his power and influence to inspire people and improve their lives.

I started high school in 1998, during the era of "zero tolerance," when high school principals called police on students for relatively minor behavioral disturbances and local police forces began arresting people all over the place for minor, non-violent offenses, creating the bloated, but counterproductive, prison-industrial complex that destroyed lives and made communities less safe. We now live in a society where nearly everyone has some sort of criminal record, causing low morale among America's citizens. People are more apt to break the law when their civil liberties aren't respected.

As a Republican, I opposed the Affordable Care Act in President Obama's first term, but came to support it in his second term. Once I became a Democrat, I came to favor a single-payer system, believing that Obamacare was just the first step toward universal healthcare. An immediate overhaul of our nation’s health care system was absolutely necessary, due to rising costs and lack of coverage for many Americans. By 2008, we had a serious health care crisis in this country that needed to be dealt with at once. Obama’s plan isn’t perfect, but it was the best quick fix that could pass Congress without Republican support. In the post-Trump era, Medicare-for-all will be the form of universal health care coverage Americans will have and use, inspired by the policies of Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Once I abandoned conservatism for liberalism, I realized that I had been fed a large number of conspiracy theories over the years, starting with false stories about President Bill Clinton; I now believe that Clinton was one of our best presidents; looking back from 2019, many progressives blame him for not being liberal or progressive enough, but after the conservative thrust of the Reagan-Bush years, governing as a center-left moderate was the best anyone could possibly do in 1993/1994. As I examined conservative culture from afar, I saw unmistakably the anti-intellectual sentiment among rank-and-file Republican voters who viewed the world in black-and-white, instead of in shades of gray; this simplicity made conspiracy theories more believable. They were angered by complexity, being completely comfortable with simplicity. Truth is never simple and I always strive to discover the complexities of modern life.

The candidacy and then presidency of Donald Trump convinced me that I certainly made the right decision by leaving the Republican Party, which I did just in time! Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first Democratic presidential candidate I had ever voted. After the catastrophe of Trump's campaign and electoral college victory, I decided that I would never vote Republican again, as long as I live, for any office that a Republican chooses to run for. I learned around this time that the Right is based entirely on hateful, racist, far-right ideas. Conservatism's official tenets are merely a smokescreen designed to cover up the true purpose of conservative policies and the rightward drift of the GOP.

Since conservatism is based upon bigotry and hatred, the entire Republican Party is, as well, since conservatives took over the Republican Party in the mid-1960s, tapping into the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the ultra-conservatives controlling the party's agenda are individuals who have been in place since that time, for 50+ years. Examples include Pat Buchanan and Roger Stone, who began their careers by carrying out the dirty tricks of President Richard Nixon. The Republican Party is now the party of hate, whereas the Democratic Party is the party of progress and understanding. Conservative Republicans oppose “politically correct” speech, which translates into their use of offensive speech, including jokes, that offends Latinos, African-Americans and women. People on the Right don't understand the need to respect people whose backgrounds are different from their own, even though these individuals are also trying to achieve the American dream.

Conservatism is based upon emotion, rather than logic. It is reactionary, nasty and irrational. It's tenets work as a smokescreen for nearly every form of bigotry, which have been stoked by right-wing American demagogues since the days of Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s. It is a 90-year tradition of hatred, cruelty and ignorance. It is unbridled aggression, which threatens the very foundations of American society. Liberalism, instead, is built upon the success of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment; it is from this liberalism that progressivism flows. We as human beings can always work to better our lot in life, instead of returning to the violence and oppression of the Dark Ages.

Now, at this point in my life, I like to learn more about the history of modern conservatism. It has a dark, disturbing history that needs exploring, if one is to properly understand the core of conservative Republican thought. As it turns out, conservative thought is flimsy at best: Obama and the Democrats are well-educated and extremely intelligent while conservative Republicans tend to be much less educated and intelligent. They are often bumbling and inarticulate, while believing all kinds of conspiracy theories, especially related to their irrational fear of communism, the Clintons and their unfounded belief in white supremacy; Sarah Palin is a prime example. Conservatives are fascinated by the Cold War mentality of the 1950, including the red-baiting of Senator Joe McCarthy.

Liberals and progressives I now admire include Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I believe that both liberals and progressives can work together within the Democratic Party for creative policies and more effective government. It is moderate and conservative Democrats that have to be replaced by liberals or progressives. Progressive candidates in Democratic primaries can target older, more conservative leaders who owe their fortunes and political offices to corrupt, well-entrenched political machines.

I now favor Medicare for all, free tuition for students at public colleges and universities, the Green New Deal and efforts to achieve much greater economic equality. I agree that progressive solutions will benefit those of us now in our 20s and 30s, but that we should also heed the advice and learn from the experiences of liberal luminaries now in their sixties and seventies. This is why I often enjoy watching The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell; he is a 67-year-old man who is wise, enlightened and up on the world as it works today. For decades, we have had an evil order, but now is the time to overthrow that order and set up a new order that will work for all of us!

  

Any social and political revolution mirrors my personal revolution and philosophical pivot. It has been a wild, incredible journey, but I am very happy that I made the leap of faith when focusing on what I really believed and why. We all need to examine our beliefs and emotions with a critical eye, keeping in mind that no belief system or emotional pattern is worthwhile if it doesn't lift up the rest of society and make life better for all of us. When life is truly primal and cut-throat, life becomes unbearable; but when we work together to keep modern civilization intact, we all benefit tremendously, gaining a new world that is just and livable.