Nashville Knucklehead

Why I am not a Republican

I was alive for the last nine months of the Kennedy administration. Obviously, I don't remember him. Then came Johnson. I can't remember much of him, either.

Nixon. Boy do I remember him. I remember Walter Cronkite's Viet Nam body counts every night on the news. I remember Watergate. Boy, do I remember Watergate.

Back in the stone age, before cable, anything important pre-empted regular programming on all three channels. I didn't mind watching all that stuff, I was always a bit of a news junkie. Agnew resigning. Ford being appointed. Nixon resigning.

Ford pardoning him. Even at eleven, I didn't think that was right. Now, almost everyone interviewed on the subject calls it a courageous act, that we didn't want to drag a president into court after all the country had been through. Maybe so. But to an eleven-year-old who had to follow the rules or face the consequences, it never seemed right.

Nixon = Viet Nam and Watergate. Ford = Pardon.

Then along came Reagan. I already didn't trust Republicans. All I got out of the Reagan Presidency was Iran-Contra. This Bush guy isn't helping any, either.

I know it's not fair. I know Kennedy started the war in Viet Nam and Johnson escalated it, and that Ford did what he had to do and that Reagan pulled the country out of the national funk brought on by the depressed economy and the hostage situation. But I don't trust Republicans. Not the politicians. It's part of my personality brought on by Republicans really screwing things up during my formative years.

But you know what, I'm not a Democrat either. I suppose I'm closest to a Libertarian, but I prefer to just be independent. We don't have a two-party system. It's just worked out that way lately.

My prediction in the next election: Guiliani will make the strongest run as an independent since, well, whenever there was a legitimate third party.

Maybe he'll run as a Whig.

posted by Nashville Knucklehead @ 10:41 AM