As I have often noted, I grew up in a family with long ties to the Republican Party. For eight (8) years I held a City Committee seat for the City Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach which I actually incorporated back in the 1990's. But the Republican Party changed from what it had once been in the days of my parents and grand parents. The catalyst for the change in my view, the Christofascists who deliberately and steadily infiltrated to local city and county committees, with foolish moderates voting extremists on to such committees. and thinking that they could still maintain control. As this occurred the party morphed into a sectarian party with slavish obedience to Christofascists and falsely labeled "family values" organization which in reality were hate groups and veiled white supremacy groups. The intertwining of Christian extremism and civil laws got to the point where I could no longer remain a part of the deepening cancer and resigned, stating that until the concept of separation of church and state was again recognized, I could no longer be a Republican. Things have only worsened in the years since. Now the party that claims devotion to "Christian values" has become a party of hate and utter mistreatment of the less fortunate. The healthcare bill passed by House Republicans exemplifies the moral sickness that is now mainstream in the GOP. Andrew Sullivan sums up the situation well and why many of us are now former Republicans:
You might think Obamacare would violate my generally conservative principles, but it didn’t. In fact, it seemed to me to be an effective marriage of conservative principles and, well, human decency. The decency part comes from not blaming or punishing the sick for their condition. The conservative part comes from the incremental nature of the reform, and its reliance on the private sector to provide a public good. For good measure, it actually saved the government money, and it slowed soaring health-care costs. The exchanges, with predictable early hiccups, largely worked — a case study in the benefits of market competition. The law allowed for experiments to test how efficient health care could be. It even insisted on personal responsibility by mandating individual coverage. And the concept of insurance is not socialism; it’s a matter simply of pooling risk as widely as possible. If any European conservative party were to propose such a system, it would be pilloried as a far-right plot. And yet the Republican Party opposed it with a passion that became very hard for me to disentangle from hatred of Obama himself.
The Trump GOP’s attempt to abolish it is therefore, to my mind, neither conservative nor decent. It’s reactionary and callous. Its effective abandonment of 95 percent of us with preexisting conditions will strike real terror in a lot of people’s hearts. Its gutting of Medicaid will force millions of the poor to lose health care almost altogether. It will bankrupt the struggling members of the working and middle classes who find themselves in a serious health crisis. It could hurt Republicans in the midterms —though that will be cold comfort for the countless forced into penury or sickness because of Trump’s desire for a “win.” But it’s clarifying for me. It forces me to back a Democratic Party I don’t particularly care for. And it destroys any notion I might have had that American conservatism gives a damn about the vulnerable. It really is a deal-breaker for me. I hope many others feel exactly the same way.
Thankfully, the U.S. Senate has made it clear that the House bill is not acceptable, but be prepared for Republicans to continue to try to include its most hideous aspects. Meanwhile, as Trump/Republican voting "Christians" pack the pews in church tomorrow morning, understand that it is all a charade. Such people are not adherents of the Gospel message. They do not give a damn about others. Hate, greed and vile treatment of others are the real basis of their "faith." No wonder the numbers of "Nones" are growing rapidly.
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