I’ve had it.

As a true Republican I believed in  frugal spending and less intrusion into people’s lives. None of that describes the current Republican Party.

I thought fighting from within, the Party was the way to go, and perhaps things would change.

I have heard from some ‘quasi-friends’ that my positions make me more of a Democrat. They are just plain stupid.

I will NOT register as a Democrat since they too have gone way overboard on too many levels.

I will go independent in thought and vote, much like I have all my life. No political party has a reign on me, or my personal positions. 

I will NOT follow blind endorsements of candidates, just because they carry a party, or party leader designation.

As such, I will no longer attend Republican functions, even though my wife is in the town and county Republican structure. 

Political platforms have morfed into quasi-reality and hate and it is just getting worse.

While we’re at it, remember the Founding Fathers’ approach to a stable federal government? 

The Electoral College system further distorts the presidential campaign by causing the candidates to grant extra weight to the parochial needs of the ‘swing’ and smaller states.

Imagine a political system where the majority no longer rules. 

Well, we now have it.

 The Founding Fathers were not always right on so many levels, including the outdated electoral college and gun control. Times and society have changed. It is time for Americans to wake up and realize what we have become.

Imagine a nation ruled by special interests. That is what we have become. We have allowed the NRA, Pharmaceutical, Overall Big Business, to sway and buy politicians. I do not condone the money of lobbyists and their bottomless money wells and politicians and candidates who sell their souls to keep a political career, or get elected.

The Republican Party of today is attempting to take away civil liberties, make demi-gods out of Party leaders and refuses to reach compromise, or even the illusion of reason. It believes in big business, profits and will use any means to achieve it. The National Debt doubled under the Trump administration, something brushed under the rug. 

Since 2017, mass shootings in the United States -- now described as shooting incidents in which at least four people are injured or killed -- have nearly doubled year over year. Already, there have been 212 mass shooting incidents in 2022 -- a 50% increase from 141 shootings in May 2017. But please remember, mass shootings have been around for decades, we just did not have instant media access to present them in today’s fashion. Remember, or look up the 1966 University of Texas event killing 14 people and wounding 31 others (one of whom died years later from complications related to his wounds). Earlier in the day, Charles Whitman had killed his wife and mother. There have been many more, but we have a tendency to forget.

Still, mostly southern and mid-western states have stuck to weak, or no gun laws, stifling any attempts to control the spread and deaths attributed to guns. 

America has more guns than any other nation in the world – and that number continues to grow each year. After fighting for their independence, the Founding Fathers enshrined Americans’ right to firearms in the Second Amendment. Guess what, the Second Amendment worshipers have gone amuck. What’s next, bazookas and smart bombs in everybody’s arsenal?

Americans own more guns per capita than any other country. 32% of Americans say they personally own a firearm according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey. This means that more than 81.4 million Americans own guns.

About 1/3 of all the civilian guns in the world are in the hands of Americans. There were nearly 40 million guns purchased legally by Americans in 2020 alone according to FBI records.

Back in 2017, for every one hundred people in the United States, there were one hundred twenty firearms in the hands of the general public. Of the 393 million firearms in the U.S., only 6.06 million of them are registered. Guess what? It has only gotten more out of whack since 2017.

Republicans (50%), rural residents (48%), men (45%), self-identified conservatives (45%) and Southerners (40%) are the most likely subgroups to say they personally own a gun.

The gun ownership argument using  the Ukrainian war and why anybody and everybody should have a gun is crap. Most Ukrainians did NOT own guns prior to the conflict.

Following the recent Buffalo and Texas mass killings, Republicans like Texas Senator Ted Cruz called for MORE gun ownership and arming teachers.

At a press conference about last week’s elementary shooting that took the lives of 19 children and two adults, Republican Governor Greg Abbott  proclaimed it was a mental health problem and not a gun problem. But then again,  I have the sneaky suspicion that gun lobbyists have paid out multi-millions to elected officials to support their insertion and re-election coffers. I also doubt there are few, if any mental health lobbyists with unlimited funds. 

Republican god Trump was the key speaker scheduled for the Memorial Day Annual NRA  meeting. Did he call for any type of gun control in light of recent and continual shootings (laughable)? At least Texas Governor Greg Abbott was smart enough to cancel his appearance and speech at the meeting in light of the recent Texas massacre. 

By the way, the Secret Service did not allow attendees of the National Rifle Association convention to bring guns onto the convention floor, because several prominent Republicans including former President Donald Trump spoke there, the NRA explained. Even without the intervention of the Secret Service though, the convention center itself also doesn’t allow weapons of any kind on site.

New York has had tough gun legislation, only to be snuffed out by illegal guns coming from so-called Republican states. New York should get tougher. 

Anyone caught with an illegal gun should face time behind bars.

I do believe anyone has the right to apply for gun ownership, after extensive background checks and mental evaluation.

 I do not hate guns, just the people who abuse guns and abuse gun ownership laws. 

I do NOT believe in assault weapons and the right  for extended ammunition magazines and the ability to transform a gun into a human killing machine. If you are too stupid to understand what an assault weapon is, you probably should not own any guns.

As a registered Republican I always kept an independent mind, supporting candidates on all sides based on their positions, not their party allegiance. 

Not all Republicans support banning abortions/women’s rights to choose, lax gun control, or banning immigration. 

They also don’t all blindly follow excessive party leadership, or policies. 

Yes, there are some free thinking Republicans, but they are being out-shouted by dumb, social media believing idiots. Social media nuts should actually read and absorb something beyond conspiracy and lies.

Now hear this: Climate Change is real. Fossil fuel is waning, and we must wean ourselves of Big Oil, pipelines.

We have refused to define migrants and immigration in a fast changing world.

Trumpists do NOT follow constitutional realities and true democracy. Trumpists will not understand personal freedoms until they lose them. Trumpists still feel NATO is bad, Putin in Russia and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un good...ugh! 

Trump has praised their leadership style and wants to emulate it here in the U.S. Just read his warped statements.

Trump’s move to threaten, illegally change vote totals, create election deniers that believe in the BIG Trump lie in any way and use threats and Brown Shirt Nazi style tactics to sway the population is no friend of America.

Just to show how crazy some really dumb Republicans can be, Georgia’s Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made a name in Washington pushing hard-right wild and proven false conspiracy theories, easily won her party’s nomination for Congress on Tuesday.

Luckily, or perhaps relying more on facts and NOT Trump’s backing, many Republicans are throwing off this crackpot and other Trump picks were trumped.

In short, the many Republican Party followers can no longer stomach what the Party has become. 

In short, the Republican Party is fractionalizing and on a downward spiral. Don’t believe me, just wait a little longer.