My Political Transition from GOP to Democrat

[Former Republican]

It came recently.

In the 90s I was a Republican:
1. I thought income taxes should be lowered.
2. I was against free trade (yes, I know Bush I passed NAFTA; but with people like Buchanan against it and the GOP history of being pro-tariff, I thought conservatives would be harder against it than Clinton).
3. I thought Clinton's foreign policy was weak, especially on Israel; and I thought Republicans pandered a lot less to Israeli interests although they were Saudi asskissers.
4. The GOP was for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which, while maybe not a big deal, I agreed (and currently agree) with on principle.
5. Bush promised an isolationist foreign policy.

After September 11th, I was ecstatic. Bush was loved by almost the entire population, and those pesky Democrats seemed like they would never win another election. It was cool back then.

I heard of FOX News at a conservative message board I used to hang out at, so I stopped watching CNN and started watching FOX. That was when it started. The anchors of that channel were so blatantly biased that it was shocking. Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson looked so CHEAP that something snapped psychologically. I'll be honest, a lot of my transition had to do with psychological conditioning. Look at the MAKE-UP of the Fox news anchors! it's ridiculous! John Gibson looks like a Casper the ghost and Bill O'Reilly like an old woman!!

OK, to more serious matters. Bush's speeches started getting on my nerves. I just started hating him personally. And then there was the whole FRENCH fiasco. I should make it clear that I'm a first generation American whose mother tongue is French. FOX News had such a vulgar campaign against France that I literally had tears in my eyes watching it. People on FOX News were making ethnic jokes about the French. Dennis Miller, a guy whose tone of voice is so mean that it isn't funny, went on several talk shows and said things about "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (why monkeys? why not frogs? I'll never know...)

And the war was so obviously to satisfy the interests of oil and military weapons industries that you'd have to be an idiot to support it. So then, the GOP was obviously the party of idiots.

I spend a few months in France during this period, and that was when it became clear to me. Socialist progressivism is not going to result in this country becoming a communist version of Sodom as Bill O'Reilly so often portrays the leftist ideal. In France, I became aware of the objectivity of their news (it wasn't even remotely anti-American). I saw hospitals where the unprivileged were treated for free and didn't have to wait three fucking hours just to see some piece of shit general practitioner when they had serious conditions. Property taxes are lower than low in France. OK, income taxes are high; but I realized that you have to make sacrifices for the benefit of society (and for your own benefit since social programs are for everyone). France's workers receive the utmost amount of protection; they need to be notified a long time in advance before getting fired. Now contrast all of this to America, where there are slums so disgusting that you'd think you were in the third world.

The situation in America has increasingly been getting worse. What do we pay taxes for HERE (although it's still only 38% maximum income tax, but property taxes are through the roof)?! There are no free universities. Because of Bush's allocating all federal money to fight bullshit wars and expand the military meanwhile cutting taxes, state's have had to raise their university prices. THE OUT OF STATE TUITION FOR UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN IS NOW 26,000! What am I going to do when I have children?!$#@

This is nonsense. The priority of the government should be society, not the military. There's no need for more military build-up. It's not like we're in danger of being conquered.

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OK. My brain's sort of tired now. That was my honest story. It's sort of messy, but it's the truth.