OPINION: Thoughts About This Pesky US Election: I Was Once a Republican…

I have always been a fiscal conservative.  The runaway national debt has the potential risk of growing asymptotically - until its continued growth is self-sustaining with potential cataclysmic results for our economy and tax policy.

That’s a legitimate issue.

As a 16-year USAF pilot veteran, I have always felt a strong international policy, supported by a strong military, was a necessity and that if dialed down or shirked entirely, the resultant isolationist shift would create a vacuum that would be filled at great peril to our existence.

That’s a legitimate issue.

However, to the extent that it can be determined, the overall underlying legitimate issue for me is the integrity of the candidate in question.  The rising drumbeat alleging unsubstantiated “cheating” by the opposing party, suggesting a serious degrading of election integrity with no proof, has become an ultimate disqualifier for me.

I used to be a Republican, and never voted for a Democratic candidate.

Till now.

I have enrolled with “Republicans for Harris”, but I admit that is something of a misnomer, because I am no longer a Republican.

At one point I was merely one of the “Barred, permanently”, but now I am a confirmed Independent.  What used to be the Republican Party, I now consider to be the new Putin Party, supported by a super PAC that should be referred to as MRGA; “Make Russia Great Again”.  Undermining our Constitutional processes will have that effect.

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For over a decade and a half as a fighter pilot, I attended hundreds of post-flight debriefings. During them if one pilot attempted to “spin” and skew his version of events to his favor by shading his interpretation of what happened during the flight it would not go unnoticed. A frequent, normal response would include the opposing pilot standing up and proclaiming with vigor; “I have to pull out the bulls**t flag on that, bud” - at which point he would whip a hanky out of his flight suit pocket and slam it to the floor.

For former President Donald Trump, for every election denier, election fraudulent card playing voice, whether running for office, speaking from the staff of a candidate, as a mainstream media personality conducting an interview or a banner waving Jan. 6 style protester, I stand here now with the bulls**t flag resting on the floor.

The entire “voter fraud” noise has been created from a whole cloth by the election-stealer-in-chief himself: Trump.  If there is any election cheating underway, he is the source.  How can millions of American citizens ignore that there was no such thing as a “fake elector” - until they were created, recruited and set in motion to attempt to illegitimately overturn the 2020 election, lost by Trump by millions of votes?

For the foreseeable future, I am a supporter of the valid, dependable elections I am convinced are being conducted by professionals in our democracy.  I am disgusted with, and will refuse to join in any way, a group of people masquerading as a legitimate political party, while at the same time intentionally attempting to shred our confidence in the very system required to make it a democracy.

I acknowledge that there are many honest Republicans of good character, who find themselves in positions which require them to tread carefully on this topic.  Regretfully, they have nowhere near enough pull to get this malignant genie back in the bottle. 

The whole free world may be left paying the price.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.