Steve Allender joined the Republican Party in 1979. But, he writes in a guest essay, “I have never questioned my party until the past few years”
Republican Party in 1979. Jimmy Carter was president, and I first started hearing about Ronald Reagan. Being a first-time voter, I was intrigued by him. As the campaign began in 1980, I remember Reagan talking about the ills of big government and my dad favouring him.
The pandemic certainly awakened and motivated many traditional Republican conservatives. Our city council’s public comment period, in which citizens attending a council meeting can speak for a limited period of time, was overrun by people warning of the tyranny about to be unleashed as we discussed the effectiveness of wearing a mask during the pandemic. Mr Trump won both our county and our state in 2020.
The “Trump effect”, fuelled initially by the pandemic but sustained by those current politicians who ride his coat-tails, has changed the party for the worse. It invited thoughts and speech that usually would have been contained by a person’s normal inhibitions. It validated and encouraged angry and abusive talk and interaction, all the while categorising them as patriotic. It made a home for people whose inner thoughts were not before viewed as socially palatable.
The surge of party extremism effectively silenced those two parts of the party. They have been mostly quiet since 2020, but there is hope that their voices will soon return.
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