Lifelong Republican ... Not

I was a republican for most of my life. (There were those flower-child years in the late 60s but that changed when I started paying taxes.) I grew up in a republican family in a republican community. Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts and Bill Clinton’s tax increases had me locked for life or so I thought. What happened to the party? I have trouble finding a single issue where I agree with it.
• No new taxes – Why not no new “net” taxes. Government needs to be able to adjust taxes in both directions. The republicans have permanently tied one arm behind their backs simply to get votes, not for the good of the country. I’d like to see lower business taxes and higher taxes on the top brackets (me). I think “death taxes” are good. I sympathize with the argument that taxes have already been paid on this money but I think that if one person makes a fortune, it should not insure that every generation thereafter will never need to work. I think a tax system that carves away at inherited wealth is a good thing such that the 4th or 5th generation after the money is earned will need to go out in the world and contribute to a nation’s productivity.
• Anti-immigrant – All of the legal and illegal immigrants I have met are hard working, family oriented people that contribute to our overall good. The strong economy, low cost-of-living in Texas is proof of that.
• Anti-gay – They are what they were born to be. They deserve the same rights as everyone else.
• Small government – Hah!! The government never grew so much as it grew under Bush. It is only rhetoric. The government has become an oligopoly controlled by lobbyists. Democrats are only slightly better in this regard.
• Anti-abortion – It is hard to be against babies, I love babies. But the truth is that the world is over populated and getting worse by the day. The planet pays a horrible price, especially other species.
• Anti-healthcare – They are all for babies until they are born. Then babies are on their own. I think we should catch up with the rest of the industrialized world and provide reasonable healthcare for all of our citizens.
• Pro-guns – Is there not a gun that should be illegal anywhere. I dare you to find a republican that doesn’t think that anyone should be able to carry anywhere. Yeh, I know. The dems have totally cratered on this issue.
• Pro-defense – Do we really need to spend more than the rest of the world on our military? When you look at all of our wars since we became a “super-power”, does it look like a net positive to you? Couldn’t the money have been better spent on energy independence? If we didn’t have our military presence meddling in the Middle East, they wouldn’t all want to kill us.
That probably covers most of it. It makes all the sense in the world to me but you probably think I’ve lost it. Tata.