I have written into this paper in times where my opinion was widely shared by readers. It is my firm belief and opinion that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, the Constitution isn’t a living document, and that marriage is forever between one man and one woman. As of late however a lot of my firm beliefs are not popular within the Republican Party I called home. I do not believe the 2020 election was stolen, I believe Joe Biden is a much better human being and President than Donald Trump can ever hope to be, and that the country is better off than it was four years ago.
I was raised and remain a conservative of the heart. I vividly remember the day I walked into the Caldwell County Board of Elections to register as a Republican and vote for Elizabeth Dole. My entire professional career has been dedicated to electing conservative Republicans, including Mark Meadows and Scott Walker, to office. However, since the day Donald Trump came down the escalator I have found myself more and more alienated from the party I thought I knew. A hostility to empirical facts and basic reality has become the rule of thumb. The Party of Lincoln seems to have forgotten that Honest Abe once said that you can fool some of the people all of the time, and Trump and his ilk have truly fooled all too many people.
My values regarding my faith and its role in the public square, on the role and scope of government have not changed, and approaches to the border and crime have not changed. It is the Republican Party since 2015 that has fundamentally changed. That conservatives like Paul Ryan and Liz Cheney aren’t welcome in the Republican Party demonstrates to me that individuals like myself aren’t either. For that reason, I am walking away from the Republican Party and becoming an independent.
I will continue to vote for state and local leaders who remain faithful to the values that informed the Party of Lincoln and Reagan. But I will not under any circumstance cast a ballot for Donald Trump, and I will loan my voice to the most effective efforts to be sure he loses again like he did in 2020. Maybe after two back to back losses the party can correct itself, but regardless the GOP gave me no choice.