Here are the nine:
Charlie Dent - former congressman (ret. 2018)
Jim Greenwood - former congressman (ret. 2005)
Denny O’Brien - former member (and breifly Speaker) of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (ret. 2012)
Sandra Schultz Newman - former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice (ret. 2006)
Dave Steil - former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (ret. 2008)
Lita Cohen - former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (ret. 2002)
Robert Jubelirer - former Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and state senator (ret. 2006)
Ken Davis - former various county level offices (ret. 2012)
Morgan Boyd - former Lawrence County Commissioner (resigned earlier this year to take a job in the Shapiro administration)
Boyd is the only one who held office as a Republican at the time. Now he works for Shapiro.
The so-and-so’s are trying to worm their way into our Conservative party (which is much easier for them to do since the Brexit shenanigans chased the leading non-headbangers out of Parliament and the party):
I’m glad you’re considering abandoning the party that is trying to overthrow our democracy, but this is just false. The Dems raised the ceiling three times under Trump with no drama. The Republicans have to hold the nation hostage to get their way because their policies are too unpopular to get passed the normal way.
I can’t find the link, but there even is a local registered Republican who was endorsed by that municipality’s Democratic organization, in the last year or two, for some low-level office (and, no, we don’t elect dogcatchers in Pennsylvania).
Nothing in politics s forever. It is taking a long time for the current nativist phase within the GOP to cool, but it will. I just can’t say when.
Well I did it. For the first time ever I’m not a Republican.
I decided to become unaffiliated (never will be a Dem) and have chosen to vote in Republican primaries to vote for the most moderate candidate that I can. I feel defeated and like a quitter but at a certain point, it turns from political faction differences to a question of ethics. I cannot belong to a group that believes democracy is what is wrong with our country.
Is it relevant to ask the OP to specify his reasons for never, ever, ever joining the Democratic Party? He stated earlier that he has his reasons, and I haven’t seen any requests that he specify (maybe I skipped over them if they’re here) but it seems to me a relevant question at the heart of the OP.
If this is a hijack, then please ignore, but I don’t believe it is.
I simply don’t understand why someone would identify much more closely with Party A based on his and their policies, and revile most of Party B’s policies and positions and candidates, yet refuse to align himself formally with Party A. What is it about calling yourself a Democrat that so offends you?
I’m not the OP, but I think it’s entirely possible to hate where your old party has gone, but also feel that the other party stands for things that you disagree with, as well.
If you identify as a conservative, and feel that the GOP has gone around the bend and become hateful, authoritarian wackos, that doesn’t need to mean that you, by default, now want to align yourself with Democratic policies and positions – it may just mean that you identify with what the GOP used to be, which was still very different from the Democratic party.
OK, but how far does the GOP have to go before the OP decides it is now (and for the foreseeable future) hopelessly mired in hatred and irrationality? If the Dems came out in favor of everything I opposed, I can’t imagine saying, “I’m still a Democrat” without offering some explanation.
If this thread isn’t an appropriate place to ask for clarity, then (again) please ignore.
It’s kind of like shooting your own dog when it goes rogue.
I changed my registration in 2018 from Libertarian* to independent. In Arizona’s primary elections independents get to choose which on-ballot party’s election to participate in, currently R, D, and L, although the Greens are working on it. I had hoped I could get a non-MAGA Republican into the general election but so far it’s only been more whack-a-doodle vs. less whack-a-doodle and even the lesser was more than I could stand. I get a Democrat ballot instead.
*And before the sneers start, I was in the anarchist-lite branch of the party, not the Republican-lite. Libertarians are no more monolithic than Republicans or Democrats.
No, that’s his explanation for why he can’t be a Republican (though the title of the thread says otherwise–maybe he’s had a change in position on identifying as a Republican?) I’m asking why he’s so dead set against identifying as a Democrat, since most of his positions seem fairly closely aligned to the Dems and not at all to the GOP.
It doesn’t matter, of course, and I’m glad to get his vote whenever he gives it. I just find it mysterious, and possibly potentially clarifying if he wishes to elaborate on “I have my reasons” for never switching parties.
He seems to be holding onto some misguided ideas about what Democrats believe, such as their willingness to use the debt-limit as a bargaining tool to get the budget realigned, so maybe if he wishes to clarify, someone might show him where he’s misunderstanding something else.
He set out, in his OP, that he didn’t want “you should just be a Democrat” to enter into the advice being given in this thread. I don’t want to junior-mod, but you’re kind of badgering him.
I have made my reasons for my opposition to the Democratic Party clear in other threads. And on this board being anti-Democratic often (though not always) is as bad as being pro-Republican in derailing a thread. For example:
He seems to be holding onto some misguided ideas about what Democrats believe,
Now I’m not saying YOU would do this, but my fear is that saying why I’m not a Democrat here would turn this thread into “Let’s explain to Saint Cad in excruciating detail why he’s wrong in his beliefs.” I will also point out that in the US and especially Colorado, there is no excluded middle. I do not not have to choose between Republican or Democrat and I am free to be independent and in my state as an independent I can still vote for moderate Republicans in the primary. I cannot do that as a Democrat.
tl;dr I have my reasons and that topic is not pertinent to this thread. I respectfully request you drop it.