"I'm the Child of Immigrants. I'm Not Giving Up on the Republican Party." NYT article

[Demovictory9]

I was drawn to the Republican Party because of my conservative principles — family-oriented, religious and socially conservative. But it has been difficult to reconcile my allegiance to the party with its devolving evermore into a mouthpiece for President Trump’s dangerous views and policies, especially with regard to immigration. This is deeply disturbing. It has forced me to reconsider my affiliation and it could prove to be the thing that drives me away from the party for good.

Immigration isn’t just a political issue to me. It’s personal. Members of my extended family in the United States are DACA recipients. My parents immigrated to Miami from El Salvador and Guatemala in the late 1980s and early ’90s. The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act gave them a pathway to citizenship and a chance at a better life. They worked their way up from dishwashers to restaurant managers while raising me and my two siblings.

During the run-up to the midterm election last year, I saw how the toxic national rhetoric around immigration trickled down to local communities. In Oklahoma’s fifth district, where my family is now living, the Republican incumbent, Steve Russell, ran ads that stoked fears of “pipe bombs, shootings, migrant caravans,” equating migrants with criminals. And so last year I found myself doing something I never thought I’d do: I gave up my Republican Party affiliation.

I not only voted Democrat but also actively campaigned for Kendra Horn, the first female Democrat elected to Congress from Oklahoma. Ms. Horn was an advocate for families like mine. She understood that a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers doesn’t compromise border security and that millions of taxpayer dollars would be much better spent on health care and education than on building an ineffective, expensive wall.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/opinion/republican-party-immigration.html

[Desert grandma]

1. Your story should be made into an ad for the 2020 election.

There are many of your kindred spirits here in this party. Most of us are family oriented and we are comprised of people of many faiths or no faith. As a child of the 60's and a witness to blatant racial discrimination, I am proud to be a member of a political party that promotes racial diversity as well as diversity of approach to social issues.

[tblue37]

2. It is a NYTimes article, not the POp's own story. nt

[tblue37]

3. If you use the "excerpt" button, people will be less likely to think the article you are

excerpting is your own story.

[Desert grandma]

5. Thanks for claryfying that tblue37.

I still think it would be a great ad.

[tblue37]

6. You're welcome--and I agree. nt

[Aristus]

4. I actually agree with the columnist.

I want us to have a 'loyal opposition' party again. I believe in democracy. And I believe we can only have that if the party in power has an opposition. Not a 'win at all cost Tsar Bomba' but an opposition. People who want to do good things for the citizens of this country, all of its citizens; but may have different ideas about how to do that.

That's not what the repuke party is, or even could be again in just a few years. We either need to get rid of the Republican Party and start from scratch, or do some serious party reform.

[SharonClark]

7. The GOP doesn't own "family-oriented, religious"

and "socially conservative" just means anti-choice and anti-gay.

I'm weary of people stating that and not getting push back.

[John Fante]

9. +1000

[John Fante]

8. Translation:

I'm OK with various forms of bigotry provided they don't affect anyone in my inner-circle.

The mentality of a low-empathy conservative in a nutshell.

[smirkymonkey]

10. +1000

This, exactly.