We were Democrats once

I don’t know how the rest of the country transforms or progresses from Democrat to Republican, but in my family, I think it comes with wisdom, or dare I say it, age.

I firmly believed growing up that the Democratic Party was the party of the people, for the people. I remember saying these actual words, “party of the people.” I heard this often growing up, my great-grandmother, and then my grandmother, and my mother who were all John F. Kennedy Democrats. He was a local boy after all.

Growing up in Massachusetts, could you be anything else but a Democrat? Could you be anything else but a Kennedy supporter? Heck, I remember voting for Ted Kennedy, several times, and thought, this is who my grandmother would have voted for; she loved the Kennedy’s (and Elvis).

At this time, I’m a true Democrat, following the tradition of supporting the local politician, and always supporting the Kennedys.

The older you get, the wiser you get. It may be that you’ve gotten a few life experiences under your belt. Or things aren’t going so swimmingly. Or, you suddenly like watching the news. Or you’ve just simply started to pay attention. That’s the key, paying attention. Not just listening to what you heard, but questioning its validity.

I started to pay attention to what was being said. Not the scripted stuff that their team wrote for them. Not their political speeches. Not what they wanted us to hear, but what they didn’t want us to hear. What they did outside of the public eye. How they answered off the cuff questions, if they answered them at all. That was the good stuff. What they were saying and doing when they were just being themselves …

Fast forward to 2008. n association with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright by our current POTUS, opened my eyes so widely I could no longer just blindly walk into the polls and cast any future vote without complete due diligence.

You are the company you keep came to mind during this time. I found it appropriately simple in its application in this instance. I did not like his associates. It is a reflection of him.

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20 (Let God Be True)

I feel I need to step up my game in this political arena. I knew I was no longer identifying with the Democratic Party, so off to the Town Hall I run, to change my voting status. For the first time, I am no longer a registered Democrat, and it feels good. It feels right. You are the company you keep….

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th U.S. President and a Republican, and Franklin Roosevelt was the 32nd U.S. President and a Democrat. The Republican and Democratic parties effectively switched platforms between their presidencies. (Live Science)The Democratic Party of my youth, the people’s party, may have been for the people at one time, platforms seem to flip-flop throughout history, and we flip-flop with them. I do believe the Kennedys loved this country, and wanted the country to be a leader among nations.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. (John F. Kennedy, inauguration address, January 1961)

What happened to that?

Today, our fellow Americans, and illegal immigrants, have their hands out asking what the country is going to do for them? And our Democratic response: free food, housing, cell phones, cars, gasoline, cigarrettes, medical, dental, EBT debit cards with lots of cash loaded onto them automatically! Hey, have a lobster on us, Joe Taxpayer! Heck might as well throw a 401k plan in there! I think that’s all that’s missing!

You name it, the government is giving it out, bankrupting this country, and creating generations of takers.

I know I’m not eating lobster, and I’m working every day. Does that seem like a fair system? Ask anyone busting their hump to make ends meet, and you’ll see immediate rage. Something has got to change. This is the new and not improved Democratic Party that I no longer recognize. They’re effectively buying votes with their “free” programs.

I’m all for helping people, but help the people help themselves so they can become productive members of society. Handouts are not the answer.

The hard working Americans are simply tired of struggling, and now we’re angry.

We want a true American in the White House. We want someone who loves this country, and does not apologize for her strength. We want someone who believes that this is a great and good nation! We want someone who can make America great again. We want someone who will put America and Americans first. We want someone who will make America strong again.

And a Republican is born …