In  2000 I voted for Dubya.

I say this neither as a point of pride or shame, of satisfaction or regret. I say this simply to remind myself and others that I do not regard myself as a liberal. Before Trump ran the first time, since 1988 my Presidential votes had been split 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans. 

I voted for the elder Bush in my first election because I was going into the military and I regarded conservatives as more pro-military. Then, in 1992, something significant happened. A new candidate arose among the Democrats. The consummately young Governor Bill Clinton from Arkansas, the first baby boomer Presidential candidate ever. Times were changing and I was excited. And he was cool too. During his campaign, when a reported shouted a question of whether he wore boxers or briefs, he responded with an amused laugh and said "Boxers!" When they shouted the same question to H. Walker Bush, he responded angrily something about the question being inappropriate. That, of course, was not the driving force behind my vote. It just exemplifies (in my opinion) the difference of attitude between the then up and coming boomers and members of The Greatest Generation.

I voted for Clinton again in his re-election but came to regret later when, in order to distract from his blow job scandal in the Oval Office, he had the military blindly fire some missiles at a relatively unknown group of ragtags in Afghanistan known at Al-Qaeda (to no effect). Then, when he lied about the affair under oath in a deposition, I was really upset. I didn't care that he had an affair with a staffer. Do what you do, but don't lie about it under oath. Either tell the truth or refuse to answer the question on principle. If I commit perjury, I'm subject to jail time. I don't think the President should get special dispensation. I thought that then and I continue to think so today. Integrity means calling out wrong when it happens, regardless if it was the one you voted for or not.

I was really excited when Dubya ran because to me he seemed more a man of principle than Clinton had been. The latter would announce a position then immediately reverse it when the polls swung the other way. Dubya is the last Republican President we had (and may ever have) who truly understood conservative principles and acted upon them. Smaller government, family values, adherence to the original intent of the Constitution, respect for the military, the importance of the rights of the individual rather than the so-called collective rights, and respect for religion. I will say nothing here about Trump other than the fact that if your so-called Republican candidate does not check off these boxes, he's not at actual conservative and neither are you. I'm still mad about the fact that he's the only person in existence who could have (and did) make me vote for Hillary. It was kind of like drowning in the ocean and the only thing to save you is to grab onto a floating piece of outhouse. Yeah, it was like that. After voting, I went home and took a shower.

I will end by saying that the only reason I wrote this piece is because the manager at work who has only known me for the past eight or nine years once referred to me as a Democrat. I was a bit miffed, then responded "I don't consider myself a Democrat and I'm certainly am not liberal." But as long as the right continues to embrace those with a predilection for white supremacism, I will side with the left. And as much as I despise communism, if I have to choose to side with a communist or a Nazi, then I will be in the trenches with the hammer and sickle crew.