Party Politics - March 2007

When I first started voting Republican nearly 30 years ago, it was because of the simple and prudent philosophies of Ronald Reagan. He believed that government was rarely the solution – in fact, it was usually the problem because of its unnecessary interference in so many aspects of our life. He also believed that government rarely lacked revenue to fund its operations – rather, government usually had a spending problem that it always tried to solve by taxing more of my hard earned money

I also fondly remember the political philosophy of then Democratic Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, who said his secret to success was remembering that all politics is local. I enjoyed watching and listening to Reagan and O’Neill so much that I decided to get involved in local politics and successfully ran for office in the Student Government at the University of Maryland to make sure that the annual student activity fee was not raised and was spent wisely.

And thus began three decades of pride in being a fiscally conservative Republican who also agreed with much – by not all – of the social principles of the Grand Old Party. Today, however, I am embarrassed and ashamed by the Republican Party at all levels from the White House, to Congress, to the Governor’s mansion, to the local city commissions and town councils.

Let me be clear – I still do not believe in the governing philosophy of the Democrats. In fact, I ran for the Florida Senate several years ago against our now Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz whose voting record continues to disappoint me even as I continue to admire her political savvy. And the possibility of a President Gore in 2000 motivated me to get very active in the Broward Republican Party which awarded me its Republican of the Year trophy in 2004 for my efforts.

But today I feel differently. I have yet to hang up a personal thank you note I received from President Bush for my involvement in his last campaign. Governor Crist’s recent populist statement that property insurance companies were making “excess profits” reaffirmed why I reluctantly voted for him. The last Republican Congress spent so many billions on pork barrel earmark spending that they deserved to be defeated last November (not that the Democratic Congress will do any better).

And my local Republican leaning Davie Town Council sold out its residents for want of more tax revenues from a billionaire developer who has already seen land it is buying for The Commons shopping mall increase by nearly $ 20 million dollars in value after getting the Council vote to move forward with its project.

So where do I go from here? I got involved in the political world in the ‘70s because I wanted to be part of the solution rather than just being a part of an electorate which only complained of the problems. I will continue to help specific candidates who support issues important to me. But my days of supporting other candidates just because they belong to my political party are over. Unfortunately for America, the Democrats are not the solution either. Hopefully a new governing philosophy or party will form to again lead America to be that shining city on the hill admired throughout the world.