Tom Kawczynski - Off the Record

I left the Republican Party.  I actually made the decision on my birthday, but I have been waiting for a few days to talk about why I have done this, and to better know how I feel about it.  Indulge me as I tell a story which might be a little long, but that I want to share.

One of the great blessings in my life are the many interesting conversations that I have with people on a regular basis.  I am not someone who chooses my friendships based on ideology, though I know many people who are of a certain mindset.  Through those discussions, I've learned that the things that bind us are far greater than those that separate us once we go beyond the labels.

Those who know me best would tell you that I am a person who is driven by ideas, and by helping others.  As I illustrate through this blog and the many other things I do, there is a constant battle to find the ground where the ideal and possible intersect, and that is where I stand.  After many weeks of thought, I realize where I wanted to be was no longer where I had been.

I became a Republican shortly after leaving college because I was disaffected with the way government operated.  Through firsthand knowledge, I know the inefficiency of bureaucracies, and why big government is a bad idea.  I joined the GOP hopeful that it would be a better approach, and respect the idea that freedom is better than security.

My experience has been mixed, and that surprised me.  I found people who would support having freedom for business, allowing money to be made in whatever way best possible, but that would seek to restrict how individuals would live their personal life.  It struck me as a calculating sort of path that neglected what I thought should be the guiding principle:  liberty.  Free people, left alone, do great things.

I know there are many who share my same frustrations, both with a vision that is too narrow, and with a national party who doesn't follow that.  The Bush Administration grew government faster than any other prior to our current Presidency, encouraging a massive bailout to the worst offenders in clear contradiction of any reasonable capitalist view, and that same party seems destined to me to miss the point of what is happening here.

It is one of those commonly said things that we live in a two-party state and that is simply how it will be.  Maybe that it is true, but it shouldn't be.  We alternate between elections between increasingly radicalized liberal and conservative camps where the very stability of our state comes into question with each new election cycle.  Massive changes happen, and government piles atop government.  We refuse to talk to one another as we bunker down with our camp, and say we are right.

I don't know if I'm right.  I know I have important ideas though, and I want to talk to people who both agree with me and disagree with me.  I think I can convince others, but I am not coming with any label that I do not choose for myself.  I am coming with ideas that are both very old, and always new.  I want people to talk to one another, to choose for themselves, and to take power back.

The parties are corrupt, just as the process is corrupt.  The whole thing is so inundated with money that it would be a miracle for any citizen to find justice and fair representation.  I don't think you can fix that from the inside.  I respect those who work hard with the duct tape trying to make things better.  They are my friends and I will support them, but it is not the path that I choose to take.

You know, when I made the decision to become an independent, the thing that surprised me was how easy it became for me to laugh again.  When you're in a party, you adopt this mindset of defending your own, and sometimes you find the words coming from your mouth don't always match the ideas in your head.  You do what you think is necessary, as you try to defend your position, not allowing the other side to take what you have.

Not me.  I will walk back and forth, crazy though some will call it, and see if I can't talk common sense.  Some will listen, some will not.  I will support people who have good ideas, and oppose those who do not.  But, I will not do so because a group believes this, or I need votes from that.  That is what got us in this trouble, and it isn't what will get us out.

To my dear Republican friends, understand this:  Even if the best scenario, even if the best candidates controlled and represented the Republicans at every level of government, and even if there was no corruption, we would still only have half a nation.  In my county, we would represent only a quarter of the voters, and we cannot build something to last with that.  Us vs. them has to end if we are to reduce government.  My time is worth more to me than that, and so I begin to think differently.

Just because it is unlikely to succeed, as the pragmatist in me knows all too well, doesn't mean I am wrong.  I can live with that, and I feel renewed.