Why I'm not a Republican

May 6, 2002—My parents grew up as Republicans in and around Kansas City, Mo. But I doubt that political convictions are necessarily handed down by one's parents. At the time I grew up (my formative years being the mid-60s to the mid-70s), one was always more likely to counter the views of one's parents rather than parrot them. That was in the days when the cry "REVOLUTION NOW!" was a pop icon. Anything we could do to piss off our parents was the order of the day.

Curiously though, my politics haven't changed much over the years. What is even more curious is that those same people who used to say that I was maybe a step or two to the right of Attila the Hun, now say that I may well be somewhere to the left of Mao Tse-tung. This, however, is neither a good nor a bad thing on anybody's part. I've heard it said that "the only thing sadder than a young Republican is an old Democrat."

My family's Republican tradition started when the party was young. I would bid younger readers to look to their textbooks for the days when the Republican Party espoused social consciousness and environmental protection. The Democratic Party was once the party of wealthy southern landowners, who espoused the virtues of local government that protected their legal ability to hold slaves.