We’re less than two weeks away from the first anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. I thought it would be interesting to repost the articles I wrote during the fall of 2020 up through January of ’21 with some commentary reflecting on this past year and the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol. I’ve edited the original post for space, but the content is not affected. My reflections follow the original post.
ORIGINAL POST:
So, how did a nice evangelical boy who’s voted straight Republican since 1976 end up becoming an independent who will vote for Joe Biden (and most likely a few other Democrats) in 2020?
I am a lifelong Republican. Although I have never been active in the party on a local level, from the time I started voting (my first vote was cast for Gerald Ford) I have consistently and almost exclusively voted Republican. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve cast my vote for a Democrat. (And I wouldn’t need to use all five fingers.)
All that to say, my decision to vote against Mr. Trump was not made lightly. In fact, it goes back four years.
I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. I found him morally repugnant. However, neither did I vote for Hillary Clinton.
I didn’t like Mr. Trump, but felt no better about Hillary. I remember telling someone, “It’s going to be bad either way—just different kinds of bad.” So, when I voted in 2016, I left the presidential box empty.
But other than that, I still voted a straight Republican ticket. I couldn’t bring myself to vote Democratic.
And living in solid-red Texas, I reasoned that my vote against Trump would have been symbolic at best, a protest vote which, in my opinion, would have been pointless. So, I abstained.
But this year is different. Texas might not technically be a battleground state, but it’s not solidly red anymore. Thus, my vote against Mr. Trump will not be a pointless protest.
I feel compelled by my conscience to vote against Donald Trump.
And that means voting for Joe Biden.
Where my vote is concerned, I am accountable to my conscience, as it is informed by the Holy Spirit and scripture, and to God.
And I cannot with a clear conscience vote for Donald Trump.
Reflection:
Not much has changed over the past year. Indeed, if anything, my feelings have intensified. If the election were held today I would vote against Trump in a heartbeat.
I suppose the biggest change for me is that I wonder if I’ll ever vote Republican again–at least with the current state of things. I had hoped that after the January 6th debacle, the Republican party would do a bit of house cleaning and disavow any connection to Mr. Trump.
Instead, the opposite has happened. Most Republicans are afraid to stand up to Trump. Some have fully embraced him and his “big lie.”
The Republican party has become the party of Donald Trump. As long as that continues, I will be voting for moderate Democrats and independents.
Still, I hope that some of the clear-headed (read that: Non Trumpian) Republicans might either right the ship or launch a new conservative party.
We need a healthy two-party system in the United States. A government totally dominated by Republicans or Democrats is not a good thing.
2022 is going to be an interesting year. I believe it will be a belwether for how concerned we need to be about 2024.