
<p>My voting is primarily driven by my conservative principles of personal freedom, limited government and American Exceptionalism. The issues are more important to me than the person’s gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity and, to some extent, character. I lean mostly – but not exclusively &#8212; to the Republican Party as the best vehicle to advance my beliefs – although not always the perfect vehicle. I will support – and have supported &#8212; Democrat candidates.</p>



<p>On top of the list of things that keep me in the GOP camp is the Democratic Party drifting toward socialist – and even communist policies. I am a free-market capitalist. It is the means by which we the people determine economic choices – not the officeholders and bureaucrats in Washington or some state capital. Free-market capitalism has been the economic system that has produced the greatest success for the nation – and the best standard of living for the people. Socialism – and communism – oppress the people and are doomed to failure because they are unsustainable by their very nature.</p>



<p>The more specific contemporary issues that keep me supporting Republican candidates for the most part include (and let us start off with an easy one):</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>A Powerful Regulator Central Government. </strong>Democrats are the antithesis of limited government. They are the promoters and protectors of an increasingly powerful regulatory central government run by an ensconced bureaucratic ruling class. The more distant the government, the less influence we the people have. Yet, under Democrat administrations, the federal government has become a regulatory behemoth – taking over powers, functions and services once the domain of state and municipal governments.</li>



<li><strong>Men in Women’s Sports</strong>. Allowing self-proclaimed transgender women (men?) to compete in women&#8217;s sports is nonsense &#8230; period. Democrats often frame this as protecting transgender rights and inclusion. But 69-75% of Americans believe as I do &#8212; that athletes should compete on teams matching their birth sex. The opposition is strongest among Republicans and independents, but even a majority of Democrats agree.</li>



<li><strong>Voter IDs. </strong>This is just common sense – so common that polls indicate that more than 80 percent of Americans favor voter ID requirements. Democrat claims that ID requirements are racist is more nonsense. Blacks vote in greater percentages than ever since Democrats ran elections in Dixie. This just another example of Democrat policies opposing voting security – such as ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting.</li>



<li><strong>Sanctuary Communities.</strong> Such “sanctuary” policies only serve to protect people who are are in the United States <strong>illegally </strong>(including violent criminals). In fact, sanctuary policies are an enticement for criminals. If it were not a policy, it would come under “aiding and abetting” criminals. People who are in the United States legally and have no criminal record have no need for protection <strong>from</strong> the law.</li>



<li><strong>Open Borders.</strong> President Trump secured the border expeditiously after taking office – proving that it could have been done. Democrat favored open borders have produced the humanitarian and civic crisis we are dealing with today. Millions of Americans have suffered from thefts, stolen IDs, fatal accidents, drug addiction, assaults, murders, rapes, car jackings and other crimes at the hands of illegal aliens – all the result of Democrat open border policies.</li>



<li><strong>Weak Law Enforcement.</strong> As long as I can recall, the GOP has been the law and order party. Democrats have historically coddled criminals. District Attorneys in the major Democrat-run cities have used “prosecutorial discretion” to not charge criminals. The courts have been revolving doors for street criminals. More recently, Democrat administrations and prosecutors have de-criminalized crime. In some places, stealing goods worth less than $900 is no longer a crime. In riots, the vandals, the looters and the arsonists are rarely prosecuted. Democrats have turned attacking police from a crime to a right.</li>



<li><strong>Defunding Policing.</strong> Along with weak law enforcement, Democrats have pushed to defund police – either by direct reduction in budgets or by diverting funds to social services. Democrats often claim that they do not favor defunding police, but the record speaks louder than their claims. Among the cities that have cut police budgets and/or diverted funds to social work are Austin, Texas, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Los Angeles, California, New York City, New York, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, California, Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Maryland, Oakland, California and the list goes on.The radical left wing of the Democratic Party has called for cutting off all funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).</li>



<li><strong>Progressive Tax Policies (and increased taxes generally).</strong> One of the provisions of limited government is limited taxes. Sticking it to the super wealthy has always had a class warfare appeal but has never proven to be beneficial to anyone. I have written in the past of my preference for ending the income tax and replacing it with a slightly progressive national sales tax. The wealthy would pay more taxes because they buy more – and no loopholes. The national income tax – tied to automatic withholding – has enabled the exponential growth of the federal government.</li>



<li><strong>Censorship of Social Media, etc.. </strong>I am a free speech extremist. The Constitution does not protect all speech – inciting violence, slander and perjury, for example. But once we police speech that is offensive or unpopular, we lose our individual freedoms. Democrats do just that – with calls for censorship and the establishment of “safe places” where snowflakes do not have to hear things that wound their fragile egos. Even though I believe much of the news media deals in misinformation, I would not censor it.</li>



<li><strong>American Foreign Policy.</strong> I believe that America should be the shining light of democracy and freedom to the world. I believe that American Exceptionalism is a real concept – not perfect, but real. That means that America must provide leadership internationally – economically, commercially, politically and militarily. I am not an isolationist. Democrats have had generally weak foreign policy – crossing red lines in Syria &#8230; President Obama did nothing when Russia seized the Crimea &#8230; weak response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine &#8230; playing paddy cake with Iran &#8230; weakness against international terrorism. Democrats tolerated NATO members not paying their fair share. They praise the failed United Nations. And America picks up the tab – including unlimited and unsupervised foreign aid. Democrats favor reduction in defense spending.</li>



<li><strong>Climate Change.</strong> Democrats use the earth’s warming as a political money machine. Yes, the earth is in a warming cycle. The one percent of greenhouse gas produced by humans has minimal impact one way or the other. If we humans produced no carbon emissions and returned to the stone age, the earth would still be warming. The most prudent approach would be to engage in policies to mitigate that fact.</li>



<li><strong>Abortion</strong>. I believe in the right to life – and not based on religion, but on civil rights in a justice society. The individual in the womb is a vulnerable developing human being – just as much as a child right after birth. Democrats promote and protect abortion at all stages – even the unpopular late-term abortions.</li>
</ol>



<p>So &#8230; here is a dozen reasons why I lean to the Republican Party. Make no mistake. I do not agree with all GOP policies, positions and actions. I do not agree with everything Republican politicians do – especially those who function as Democrat-light. I do not always agree with all fellow conservatives on every issue. My political opinions and my vote are based on my foundational conservative philosophy – something I share with the Founders according to their writings, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.</p>



<p>We have historically been a right-of-center nation – and that has been our strength – the secret sauce. In terms of my commentaries, I call them as I see them.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Why I Vote for Republicans (Mostly).
