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Jumping Ship

Citing social issues, local GOP officials are abandoning their party in droves

By Hans Johnson

A wave of GOP state legislators and other officials is defecting from the Republican Party, exposing the role that an increasingly hard line on social issues may be playing in driving out moderates. The departures weaken the GOP as it confronts another challenging election. “I don’t think Ronald Reagan would recognize the party anymore,” Wisconsin state Rep. Jeff Wood told the… return to article

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    Looks like the boomerang from years of appealing to baseless fears and bigotry is hitting home coast to coast.

    This is a trend that I’ve been noticing as well and there are many more instances of Republicans quitting the GOP because of how far to the right it has drifted.

    United States Posted by Anthony227 on Aug 22, 2008 at 3:23 PM

    As one who watched his home state, Missouri, switch from FDR Democrat to Religious Right Republican it it hartening to see a swing back to sanity both in Missouri and across the country.

    We know before his death Barry Goldwater didn’t like the modern Republican Party and its big government intrusion into our everyday lives.

    Also, we should not be deluded by the New Evangelical in the persons of Rick Warren or Jim Wallis who though they may be concerned about the the environment and other social issues they are still anti-abortion and anti-gay.

    United States Posted by Jerry Sloan on Aug 22, 2008 at 4:29 PM

    This is a very perceptive article. In Rhode Island, as the rhetoric of the national Republican Party has drifted further away from the realities of everyday Americans, state Representative Richard Singleton, of Cumberland, switched his affiliation from Republican to Independent yielding the Democrats even greater sway in the state legislature.

    United States Posted by jdeboer on Aug 25, 2008 at 1:58 AM

    I voted Republican from 1982 thru Y2K+4. I have torn up my card and am now independent. It isn’t so much social issues that concern me as it is the continued intrusion into my life by the .gov.

    In that respect, the Republicans are becoming, well, Democrats. There are are ever more outrages being perpetrated.

    For instance, both parties still support the income tax. While they both talk about tax reform the only difference is the percentage and bracket. It is still the income tax and the IRS is still the most feared .gov agency in the USA.

    Then there is the issue of anything “Gay”. Both factions (aka political parties) seem to believe that “Gays” are somehow a legitimate minority instead of a lifestyle. And, both factions routinely select demographics to demonise and legislate against.

    It doesn’t surprise me at all that some in the GOP are becoming disillusioned. I just wish both factions would simply read and apply our Constitution. Life would be better for all concerned.

    United States Posted by Phillip on Sep 1, 2008 at 4:42 AM
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