Switching Teams

Warning: Political rant ahead.

My family was always staunchly Republican. My grandfather has had autographed photos of Reagan and Bush-the-elder on his office walls, thanking him for his financial contributions to the Party.

I, on the other hand, did not feel the Republican Party reflected my ideology. Neither, however, did the Democrat Party. In Oregon, there was a truly viable option: register independent of any party — which, according to Oregon Republican Party policy, still allowed one to vote in the Republican primaries. I was allowed to still have a full voice in the process, without claiming membership.

Such is not the case in Florida. "Independent of any party" here means "you might as well skip the primaries." This still didn't bother me much, until now. The actions of the current Administration, combined with this year's divisive, and yet still somehow content-free, State of the Union address, have demonstrated to me that the Republican Party does not in any way represent me, nor do they care to.

Now let me be clear that I am not one for "litmus test" politics. A few years back, it seemed we were supposed to vote on a candidate purely based on their stance on abortion. I shudder to think that any candidate could be elected to, or denied, public office just because of their belief in regards to gay rights, marriage or otherwise. Personally, I would vote for the "right" candidate on a number of other issues, even if their stance wasn't perfect on this one, solitary topic.

So, today, I mailed off a new voter registration form to officially change my party membership from "none" to "Democrat." Mentally, though, I see my timing as a great cosmic irony. I have been planning this for a couple of weeks, but finally managed to mail the form between my grandfather's passing (Saturday) and his burial (today). At least I am dodging the "spinning in his grave" part, as he won't be in said grave for another 2 hours.