Bring in the Clowns
It’s no secret that clowns and whack-a-doodles have officially hijacked the Republican party. The once-upon-a-time Grand Old Party is now the antithesis of grand, populated with haters, sycophants, and conspiracy theorists.
While many long-time members have left the Republican party no longer wishing to be associated with that circus, many remain registered Republicans, albeit skeptical.
Never has voting your conscience been more vital than voting your party.
Ironically, that is something I did for years when I cast my ballot.
What Me a Republican?
My voter registration card 1984.
It’s no secret to those who know me that, when it comes to politics I am a progressive.
But here’s a big secret, one worthy of Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
I was once a registered Republican.
Despite the fact that I have always considered myself a lifetime, card-carrying liberal Democrat, a thin, worn, card discovered in a long-forgotten wallet proved otherwise.
Part of cleaning out my home last year involved sorting through dozens of decades-old purses and wallets that I had stashed away in shoeboxes.
Among crumpled movie tickets, lost dry cleaning receipts, and former school IDs was something that took my breath away. Tucked between a Gimbles charge card and a laminated Revlon employee card from the mid-1970s was an old election Voter ID card.
Doing a double-take, it appears I was once a card-carrying Republican.
For real.
Of course, it was on paper only, but it turns out I never changed my official party affiliation until long after the Reagan years.
Grand Old Party Poltics- Greasing the Wheel
Growing up in Nassau County, Long Island it was, as it is now, a Republican stronghold. Republicans ran the town and the county. My father, the president of his local Republican club was chummy with one-time N.Y. Senator Al D’Amato who in the 1970s was the Town Supervisor of Hempstead.
It was slim pickings when it came to getting a good summer job the summer before I left for college. However, in order to get a plum county job for the summer working at Jones Beach, my Dad promised to deliver up two Republican kiddies with the return promise of a good-paying job in the summer of 1973.
Dad delivered, as I registered for the first time at 18 as a Republican.
This, despite always identifying as a Democrat, and whose bedroom wallpaper was plastered over with political paraphernalia including posters of Bobby Kennedy and George McGovern For President.
But for a beach bum like myself, a good-paying job that included sun and surf was too sweet to pass up. I figured I could surreptitiously switch parties for a great summer gig. Who would ever know?
It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want to
The meaningless Republican affiliation just got lost in the mix of my life, as I continued in my liberal ways. Never once when I pulled that curtain behind me in a voting booth did I ever pull a lever for a Republican. At some point though my official affiliation mattered and I changed my registration where it belonged.
Of course, the fact that I never signed this voters card, made it a moot point anyway.
Vote Blue
Vote blue this election to save our democracy
Today, it’s hardly a secret that democracy is on the ballot in this midterm election.
Election denial is flourishing with Republicans. Their refusal to accept defeat in an election erodes the bedrock of our system. More than half of the 345 candidates who are election deniers, look like they will win their races in this midterm election.
Vote your heart, this election.
Vote your conscience.
Vote for Democracy.
Vote Blue. Whatever your affiliation.
© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2022 Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Envisioning The American Dream 
Conscience. But otherwise, great essay, as usual.
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Thanks for the copy editing! Appreciate it.
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Coincidentally, I was once a registered Republican myself, though I voted for the candidates I felt best represented my values and would work for the interests of the people, not themselves or a party.
Then came Regan and his “voodoo economics”, as his soon to be Vice President characterized it. Who believed the top money holders would let any of their loot trickle down to the likes of moi? LOL! What a laugh that was and still is. Still waiting.
From Reagan on, the grip of the Republican party loosened, then ended when I re-registered as an “Unaffiliated”, “Independent” being a recognized party in my state. It is not one I would affiliate with.
Why not Democrat? Why? I like my perspective of looking at both parties from the outside. I don’t particularly enjoy getting solicitations from both parties and Bernie to boot, but it does keep me from being isolated from one or the other or all because of being registered R or D or I in the general sense.
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One of the advantage for me of finally registering correctly as a democratic was to be able to vote in the primaries which were important.
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Originally, that was the case in Nebraska, too. In recent years, however, independents can ask for either the Republican or Democratic ballot for the primaries. I guess that gives either party a sense of what they can expect for general election numbers that reflect the independent numbers, too.
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I think that’s great that Independents can participate in either primary.
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Me, too, since I don’t fall totally in either party. Of course, my proclivities seem left center, whatever that makes me.
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My friend Annie is 99 years old and she is still a registered Republican although she always votes Democratic. When asked why she was registered as a Republican, she said, “My father was a farmer, and farmers were Republicans.” Why didn’t she change it as she grew older? Because she likes to vote in Republican primaries and screw them up!
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Ha, that’s a great reason to remain a registered Republican. I would love to screw up their primaries too!
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Of course this was written by a jew. lmao
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As your comment was written by an antisemite. Imao.
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You say that as if it’s a bad thing. A subversive kike calling me an antisemite is a complement.
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*compliment, asshole. Also you’re on the wrong page, again. This is a page where Sally posts thought-provoking, intelligent, sound perspectives that are read with open minds and hearts, then are sent out into the world that we all try to make better. It’s not the bathroom wall of a Denny’s which is where I’m sure you get most of your intellectual ideas. You’re in the wrong place.
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Thank you for your kind support which is so deeply appreciated.
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I’m mortified that some rando can say that, not just to you, but to anyone. Our only consolation is that he is lonely and friendless and this is his only recreation. You’re a treasure, Sally.
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Your kindness and support mean more than you can realize. Thank you. It truly helps to sustain me. You are correct that there are no barriers left and people feel emboldened to utter hateful things in a public forum.
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You’re on the wrong page, dude. Here’s the link to “your” people:
https://reviewestores.com/truth-social-app/?camp=mcpc&kw=emtsnospac&camp=mcpc&gclid=CjwKCAjwzY2bBhB6EiwAPpUpZhz6pouZfLbNqLkc2Pb7JukVzzB9Bi3Tqou3X0fqKrdqm6UvZNs6uhoCofsQAvD_BwE
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Thanks for the redirection. He should feel quite at home in that cesspool.
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Why would I want to join Trump’s social media shithole? He loves the jews, didn’t cut off our “aid” to Israel, and his son-in-law is a subversive kike.
The American people are starting to notice jewish subversion and how they’ve destroyed our country. Even the niggers that they’ve used as foot soldiers are realizing it.
What happened with Kanye will only open more eyes.
Ask yourself why jews have been tossed out of 109 countries. Is it 109 countries who are wrong, or is it the group who was forced to leave?
110 and never again.
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If he can find it with both hands and a flashlight AND a link.
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I’m wondering if this make Marjorie Taylor Greene a clown or a whack-a-doodle. Because I don’t think she or folks like her have a conscience.
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