First, how I was/am a Conservative. I respect the need for the military and honor and support veterans. I respect and honor 1st responders. I believe in individual liberty and freedom of the press and religion. I do not want tax rates to make the U.S. uncompetitive on a global basis, but I want a balanced budget when the economy is near full employment. That is the time to pay down your debt, so you have dry powder to counteract recessions, when there is a need to borrow to support deficit spending.
I voted for Ronald Reagan twice and George Bush Senior. I have voted for every Democratic candidate for President since. Why?
I felt that the gap between the rich and the poor was growing too big. I felt that the poor were not getting the education or health care they needed. I felt that the deficit spending from supply side economics was inappropriate and only the Democrats believe in a balanced government fiscal status.
More recently, I can add to that list of reasons the I am a Conservative Liberal or Centrist. While I still believe all those things in the 1st paragraph, I also believe in Universal Health Insurance because without it, we all pay for everybody through our health insurance. That is because the Reagan Administration passed a law requiring hospitals to serve anybody who shows up regardless of whether they had health insurance or not. The hospitals had to recover those costs somewhere and did so by charging those with health insurance more. And because the Health Insurance Companies must be profitable, they charge policyholders higher premiums to cover the uninsured. ObamaCare was designed by the GOP focused Heritage Foundation as an alternative to a Single Payer Plan. ObamaCare is the GOP solution to the problem of the uninsured, but the GOP has no current policy that will solve the problem of the uninsured. How could I ever vote for them?
I also believe in Science. CO2 in the atmosphere traps solar energy heating the atmosphere. That was proven in 1852 long before anyone could create a false conspiracy, which is what the climate deniers claim. Scientists have replicated that test repeatedly over the last 165 years and no one has disproved it. A good chemistry teacher could do it in a High School Chemistry lab. We have to start to reduce carbon emissions. Cap & Trade was a GOP idea on how to use the market to manage down carbon emissions, but now the GOP disowns it. How could I ever vote for them if I care about trying to keep sea levels constant? If the ice all melts, sea levels will rise somewhere between 20′ and 100′. I don’t know how they estimate that so I don’t know how high an elevation my descendent’s should live. I am currently 35′ above sea level, but my access road to higher ground is only 20″ above sea level.
Finally, while I respect what the police do for us all, I also want the police to respect people of all races. People with darker shades of skin pigment should not fear being stopped by the police. Yet, numerous African American men have been murdered by policeman who do not suffer any consequences for their actions. If I was an African American, I would most certainly move to somewhere I felt safe and I would not carry a gun, even legally, because as we saw in Minnesota, that can get you killed by a policeman, who fears for their safety just because they do. Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter.
Which brings me to sensible gun control. Hunters do not need semi-automatic weapons. Police should not have to fear people possessing concealed pistols. The GOP is a prisoner of the NRA. As someone who has been repeatedly appalled by the gun carnage in the USA where 38,000 people died last year from gun violence, I want sensible gun control, but I know the NRA GOP will not allow that to happen if they have political power. How can I vote for them if they believe that?
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