Raised by a single mother who venerated the Democratic Party, it was of course only natural that I as a child would defend that party’s policies and candidates to my friends and extended family members. I still remember championing Michael Dukakis in 1988, and cheering for Bill Clinton on election night in 1992. Clinton still got my vote in 1996, the first year I could cast a ballot for president. On my hour-long bus rides to school, I’d read the paper and try to reconcile the Democratic platform with what my mind said was right: that taxes should be lower, that markets operate best when left alone, and that it’s not right to inconvenience a few for the benefit of the majority.

And then, between my undergraduate degree and my graduate studies, I went to work for a Democratic machine in South Baltimore and actually watched how people get elected, how laws are proposed and passed, and how bureaucracies work. It was, in a word, horrifying. That uneasy marriage with the Democratic Party in my mind, with those nagging inconsistencies between my opinions and the platform, quickly turned to divorce, and even while working to elect Democrats I changed my party registration to “Independent.” I still remember walking into the City Clerk’s Office, soon after moving to Manchester, and, though I had intended to register as a Republican, being almost lightheaded when answering the clerk’s question relative to my party registration. I felt, for a moment, as if I were intoxicated. The unfamiliar word left my lips in a slur and a stutter, as if I were trying to pronounce something in Russian.

The obvious question is: why? Why did I leave the party in which I was raised, the party that I had supported and worked for and helped to elect candidates? Why did I find myself swaying at the clerk’s counter, saying a foreign word?

I could no longer, in good conscience, ignore the facts that had become so evident to me over time. I had, over nearly three decades, learned to put aside the outdated party platforms and actually consider the very different philosophies behind them, and I found that without question my personal philosophy is much more in line with the Republican Party than that of the Democrats.

This, then, is why I am a Republican:

I am a Republican because I believe that each individual is born with inherent, inalienable natural rights, and that no government action may legitimately take them away. This is the same sentiment expressed in our state and federal constitutions, and in the writings of virtually every Founder of this nation. Democrats believe that rights come from governments, and as such those rights may be regulated and legislated away. In addition, Democrats believe that rights not found in nature may be legislated into existence, such as the right to housing and the right to health care. I believe that down this road lies pure socialism.

I am a Republican because I believe that these natural rights include the right to free speech, the right to engage in free trade, the right to contract, the right to control one’s property, the right to self-defense, and the right to make one’s own decisions. Motivated by their misguided good intentions, Democrats routinely work to subjugate these rights to their will. I cannot list the ways they do so. They are simply innumerable.

I am a Republican because I believe that the rights of the individual need to be protected from a tyrannous majority; indeed, that protecting individual rights is the real reason we have governments at all. Democrats believe that the individual must yield to the majority, regardless of the rights in question.

I am a Republican because I believe that the free market is dynamic, that it quickly responds to a multitude of factors, from a surprise snowstorm that hurts the orange crop to the return of bell bottoms to the latest obsession with Apple’s high-tech devices. The free market is a wonderful equation that balances supply and demand with the full range of values and preferences of every single consumer, simultaneously. I further believe that government regulation is stolid, unyielding, and oppressive, and that it harms the entry of new talent, new capital, and new ideas into the marketplace. Democrats believe that centralized economies yield more of this amorphous concept they call “social justice.” They believe this in spite of the undeniable fact that the most centralized, regulated economies in the history of the world – China, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, etc – have resulted in the lowest amount of social justice, human happiness, and quality of life over the past century.

I am a Republican because I believe that the ends do not justify the means. It is never acceptable to trample the rights of even one person to improve the lot of the many. Democrats place more value on the “common good,” and are willing to step on some people in pursuit of their grand vision.

I am a Republican because I believe that my business is private space, not public, and that I should be entitled to set the policies to be observed therein. Public spaces are publicly owned, as in the streets and sidewalks and parks. Democrats believe that not only are all businesses public and thus subject to intense regulation, deep down they believe that all homes are public, too, and are thus equally subject to regulation. Observe the latest push to ban smoking in apartments, condominiums, and attached dwellings.

I am a Republican because I believe that people are entitled to make their own decisions. Democrats believe that anyone not an elected Democrat is generally stupid, and need to have their decisions made for them. Democrats believe that, because their intentions are pure and yet we oppose them, that our intentions are not. They often advocate class warfare by painting us as selfish and uneducated. Thus, they believe that they are morally superior, and perhaps just a little more intelligent. Democrats tend to be elitist and condescending.

I am a Republican because I believe that people can overcome any obstacle through hard work and determination. Democrats believe that people are either helpless victims or lucky victors of their circumstances, and that citizens have no control over their destiny. I believe this view of humanity is insulting.

I am a Republican because I recognize that making mistakes and overcoming hurdles is part of growing up and maturing, and that by insulating people from their mistakes and discouraging them from tackling those hurdles we are becoming a nation of adult children, destined to never have the experiences that result in true adulthood. Democrats believe they are everyone’s parents, so it’s perfectly all right that some people never grow up.

I am a Republican because I believe in Locke’s principle, that voluntary interaction is morally superior to using force to achieve social progress.

I am a Republican because I’m happy to live my life and let my fellow citizens alone to live theirs as they see fit. Democrats aren’t happy with living their own lives, they feel the need to live the lives of others, as well.

I am a Republican because I believe that people are generally good, and that being good, people that can afford to help other people in genuine need usually will. Democrats believe that people that do not happen to be elected Democrats are very selfish, and that they must utilize the power of the state to take money away from those who earn it for redistribution to the needy using a very inefficient, wasteful, bloated bureaucracy.

I am a Republican because I have no wish to be kept, or to keep others against their will. Democrats believe they are your keeper, whether you like it or not.

I am a Republican because I believe that parents have every right to raise their children as they see fit. Democrats do not believe they are “your” children, they believe they are “our” children.

I am a Republican because I believe that people know best how to spend their money. Democrats believe that they know how to spend your money better than you do.

I am a Republican because I believe that the meanings of words do not change, just as one plus one always equals two. This means that laws, including Constitutions, mean exactly what they meant when written. Democrats believe that words do change, and that the Constitution means very different things now than it did when written in 1787. Republicans believe this approach to be very dangerous, because if the meanings of words are dynamic and not static, then the words themselves are meaningless; like a modern art painting, the meaning is solely in the eye of the beholder. This is why so many lawyers are Democrats: they believe they are uniquely qualified to be shapers and artists of the law.

I am a Republican because I believe in liberty. Democrats believe that liberty must yield upon the demand of 50.1% of a given geopolitical unit.

I am a Republican because if someone shoots at me but misses, I'm either going to be shooting back or cursing myself for not wearing a firearm that day. Democrats would reach for a cell phone and call the police, hoping the police cars somehow reach them before the next bullet.

I am a Republican because I believe that local government is better government, because one is more likely to know the decision-makers by name, or more likely to run into them at the grocery store, and thus be able to influence the decisions, when those decisions are being made locally. Democrats believe that decisions made further away are somehow better. Thus, they support moving power from the cities to the state capital, from the state capital to Washington DC, and even from Washington DC to non-state entities such as the United Nations or The Hague.

I am a Republican because I believe in the right to be left alone. Democrats believe in the right to impose. My philosophy requires no sacrifice from anyone against his will. The philosophy of Democrats is built upon unwilling sacrifice.

I am a Republican because I believe taxes should be as low as possible and that government should focus on performing a limited number of essential tasks, most of which have to do with public safety. Democrats believe that the government should be funding all manner of programs designed to accomplish innumerable goals, from running a network of radio stations to funding artists to fighting marijuana use to encouraging healthier eating.

I am a Republican because I believe in the dignity of the individual. Democrats do not; rather, they believe in the supremacy of the collective.

I am a Republican because I believe that affirmative action is racism, and racism is wrong regardless of whether the victim is white or black. Also, I believe that people should be judged on their merits as individuals, based on their talents and intelligence and character, and should never receive special treatment because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Democrats believe that people of certain races, a certain gender, and a certain sexual orientation deserve preferential treatment to make up for past discrimination. This leads to…

I am a Republican because I believe that generations do not leave legacies of guilt behind. My great-grandfather was a racist, but that does not obligate me to anything, nor is a cause for me to feel guilt. I am not a racist, and that’s all that should matter. Democrats speak of inherited guilt, as if people bear some measure of guilt for their forefathers’ misdeeds.

I am a Republican because I recognize that a perfect world is impossible, that life sometimes isn’t fair, and that obstacles, fair or unfair, must be overcome through persistence and hard work. Democrats believe that a Utopia is possible, free of suffering and full of happiness and fairness, and that it can be legislated into existence by the use of their superior intellect and wise beneficence.

I am a Republican because I believe that opinions and decisions should be based upon thoughtful reasoning, weighing of the evidence, and the use of logic. Democrats believe that opinions and decisions should be based upon emotional appeals that tug on the heartstrings, regardless of how illogical those arguments may be.

I am a Republican because I believe in smaller, less intrusive government. Democrats believe in larger, more intrusive government.

I will anticipate some objections. As is always the case when dealing with loose organizations containing literally tens of millions of people, this list is full of dramatic generalizations. To be a bit more specific:

There are two kinds of Republicans with whom I find myself disagreeing often: the evangelicals and the RINOs. The evangelical Republicans do not share my “right-to-be-left-alone” beliefs. They, like the Democrats, are perfectly happy to use the power of government to shape society; they simply have different priorities and want society shaped towards a different kind of Utopian vision. Thus, like Democrats, they argue for restrictions on the right to contract (advocating state interference in marriage) and state funding of worthy causes (funding of religious charities). Make no mistake, the Bush Presidency has been an evangelical one, with its war on Islam and its big-government pseudo-conservatism. Happily, the stranglehold these evangelicals have held upon the GOP for the past decade seems to be slipping. There will be some growing pains, such as the disastrous election of 2006 and mixed results nationally this year, but the party will emerge the stronger and better for it, because we will have regained the Goldwater-Reagan small-government classical liberal conservatism that defined the winning GOP for forty years.

RINOs are Republicans-in-name-only, people who support Democrat policies and beliefs, but who register as Republican for electoral success or due to a lack of understanding of the party philosophy. I cringe whenever a registered Republican votes to expand state power or centralize it, weakening local decision-making. Republicans who do it often should truly consider a change in party, because by their incorrect, inconsistent votes they make it appear that we stand for nothing at all, or worse, that we are Democrat-lite. There are some DINOs – I know several – but they are much rarer than RINOs. I believe this disparity is due to the fact that Democrats tend to be followers, and so they fall in line and vote as they are told much easier than Republicans. The local Democrat chair calls the delegation and tells them to support or oppose a given bill, and they usually say, “Yes, sir!” The Republican chair rarely bothers to make that call, because he knows that if he did the answer would usually be “Go to hell!”

For a mathematical explanation of why I am a Republican, I direct you to the nonpartisan New Hampshire Liberty Alliance’s “Liberty Ratings.” In 2007, only one of the top 25 House members was a Democrat, one of the rare DINOs I referenced earlier. In comparison, all of the bottom 25 House members were Democrats. With few exceptions, the Republicans scored much higher than Democrats in terms of voting to protect us from an overreaching, intrusive, expensive state government. Clearly, the Republican Party is a more dependable caretaker of freedom and individual choice.

http://www.nhliberty.org/2007_liberty_rating

As to my mother, she recently opened a small business, a deli and country store. Last month, the woman who has for my entire life cursed Republicans as selfish and held up Democrats as fine examples of generosity and intelligence, after fifty-six years as a Democrat, after five years of giving me books by Daniel Moynihan and George Mitchell in attempt to bring me back to the fold, she recently walked into her city clerk’s office in Cumberland, Maryland, and said a word that I’m sure made her head spin.

“Independent.”