Keep in mind that I came of age in the late 70s and early 80s. The democrats had been having their way for a long, long, long time. When that happens, a party's good ideas were implemented a long time ago. What's left on their "to do" list is usually some pretty extreme stuff.
Too much of almost anything is bad. For instance, affirmative action? When it is used to make sure that everybody has opportunity, regardless of race, it is an unadulterated good in the world. When it is used to deny admission to Asian people, because otherwise there'd be too many of them, it is bad. (This was done at many prestigious California schools and is still being done today.)
No party has a monopoly on good ideas. Show me a person who is 100% democrat or 100% republican, and I'll show you a person who really hasn't devoted any thought to the issues. I'll show you a person who has simply chosen a tribe, dogmatically, and is voting on emotion, not logic.
When the Republicans came into the fore in the 80s, they were a party of ideas. They were refreshing after too many years where unions (a good thing) were protecting incompetent workers (a bad thing.) They were refreshing after too many years where a proliferation of government programs (generally a good thing) were making it impossible to balance the budget without massive taxation (a bad thing.)
So, they talked a good game and they gradually gained power. It's hard to imagine, but prior to the mid 90s, most people thought of Republican control of the House of Representatives as an absolute impossibility. The Republicans, themselves, had resigned themselves to the role of the loyal opposition, but really didn't ever make designs on being able to control government.
In the 90s, though, all that changed. Bill Clinton survived by virtue of a bad economy in '92 and a great economy in '96. Other than that, the Republicans ruled the roost.
In 2000, they took over the House, Senate and Oval Office. They were fully in charge.
What did they do? The first thing I noticed was they overhauled the bankruptcy laws in what was a very, very obvious favor to banks at the expense of people who were struggling so badly, the best they could do was simply give up. To this day, student-loan debt is non-dischargeable, and anybody with an above-average income probably can't file Chapter 7.
In addition, the Republicans lowered taxes, but ballooned the deficit. I generally support lower taxes, but not at the expense of saddling my son and future generations with an onerous tax burden.
The breaking point for me came in 2008, when the Republican President and his Treasury Secretary decided to bail out Wall Street.
Free market capitalism is something I firmly believed in, despite the pain it sometimes causes people. The republican house and senate supported the bailouts (to a slightly smaller degree than the democrats did, but they still supported it.)
Which pretty much filled out my report card on my party.
1. Fiscal conservatism meant nothing.
2. Lower taxes meant everything.
3. Big, wealthy constituencies like the banks were to be favored over working people, even those working people who were on such hard times that they were bankrupt.
4. The free markets were insignificant.
I can't say that I'm happy with the Democrats, either. When given their chance, they screw over the little guy in favor of monied interests just as much as the Republicans do. When our current president took power, he continued the free-ride that Wall Street got under Bush so he could focus on health care. Then, when he implemented health-care, he cut backroom sweetheart deals with the very monied interest that have been bankrupting us.
It's just that I can't support the Republicans anymore. They can not possibly claim, with a straight face, that they are a party of fiscal conservatism. Even the current presidential nominee thinks the Wall Street bailouts were a great idea. So, Republicans can't possibly claim that they support free enterprise. What they support, more accurately, is crony capitalism.
Their reform of the tax code, roughly a decade ago, has produced a ridiculous monster that asks too little of the wealthy and essentially made your 1040 a wealth-redistribution tool through refundable tax credits.
At times, it was hard to know what, exactly, the Democrats stood for.
However, today, I honestly don't know what Republicans stand for. The only things they appear to stand for are social conservatism and lower taxes.
Taxes that are too low on the wealthy is one of the problems creating our current deficit, though. Irresponsibility is not fiscal conservatism, no matter how you love low taxes. Given their love of profligage spending in the Bush years, I can't take them seriously on the isssue of fiscal discipline.
So, we have a party that's socially conservative, and fiscally irresponsible. I, personally, am socially progressive and fiscally conservative.
The Republicans have managed to be the 180 degree polar opposite of what I am and what I want. In addition, there's a cavalier air of cruelty towards those who are struggling in the current economy.
Will this make me a Democrat? I doubt it. I find Democrats to generally be better-intentioned than Republicans, especially on issues that impact the little guy. The thing is, the Democrats haven't been able to get their act together ever since I graduated High School. The current health-care reform, which does nothing to even slow down the rate at which medical costs will bankrupt us, is typical of what you get from Democrats: bills that do a little bit of good, that help a small minority of people tremendously, but which ignore reality and ultimately will cause a train wreck.
So, I don't know which direction, politically, I'll be going. It's as though I have to chose between a party that's evil and a party that's wholly incompetent. For the first time in my life, I've become cynical. I am starting to believe in my bones that no matter who we elect, they'll do all they can to screw us over for the benefit of the wealthy.
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