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As a senior citizen and lifelong Republican (ending in 2008), I am shocked and dismayed with contemporary conservative politics. There was a time not so long ago when Republicans embraced our Constitution rather than pay it lip service. During the 2008-2009 period leading up to the mid-term elections, I kept hearing from the radical right that we needed to take our country back, that America was a Christian nation, and that our founding fathers believed in “freedom” which was now being lost under Obama. Of course, I knew that our founding fathers were in fact much more concerned with the mixture of church and state. Jefferson specifically stated that America was not founded as a Christian nation. He was emphatic that this nation was founded on freedom of religion – all religions, not just Christianity. Hamilton too was in line with this thinking. They had had enough of England which mixed religion and governance. As far as losing freedom is concerned, we have lost more of our freedom contemporaneously under the Republican administration of George W. Bush. The Patriot Act is most noteworthy in that regard. Spying on the privacy of Americans’ communications was legislated as a response to 9/11. We began to lose our exceptional status by doing the very things that always had set us apart from dictatorial governments when we began torturing people and incarcerating them offshore where our rule of law didn’t apply.

As the extreme right wing of the Republican Party – the so-called Tea Party – has gained control of our legislatures, both state and federal, we have moved further and further from the cherished principles of our Constitution. One man, one vote has now been overturned by the right wing Supreme Court. The court declared in the face of over 100 years of precedent that corporations were now people. Henceforth, in very real terms private sector capital entities were to receive the Constitutional rights of citizens. Our state legislatures, Texas included, are passing laws that are intended to undermine our right to vote. These things I view as a very slippery slope. I am reminded of the words of Martin Niemöller, a prominent German Protestant pastor who opposed the Nazi regime:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Is it a coincidence that Republicans have gone after public sector unions and have attempted to label our president as a Socialist? All Americans need to take stock of where we are headed and speak up so their voices are heard.