My wife may never become a Democrat. But she's no longer a Republican.

[Aristus]

Thank God for small miracles...

[pkdu]

1. Progress... nt

[BainsBane]

2. Did she vote for Trump?

[Aristus]

3. NO! NEVER!

She hasn't voted Republican for President since I don't know when.

She voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, and for Hillary in November.

She's pretty much given up on the idea that the Republicans will ever nominate a candidate with abilities exceeding those of a trained chimpanzee any time in the forseeable future.

I don't know why she bothered to label herself a Republican for so long after they took complete leave of their already fragile senses. As long as I've known her, her ideology has skewed more toward being a conservative Democrat.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. I'm likewise wondering why she calls herself a Republican.

Why? It's along the lines of all those who vote directly against their self interest.

It's my opinion that people really should be more willing to align themselves with the political party they really are most like. I have no patience with those who insist on registering as independents in states with closed primaries, even when their primary allegiance is with on specific party. Which isn't quite the same as your wife, but still. . . .

[Aristus]

6. After a while, it becomes part of one's identity.

She was raised in a wealthy evangelical Christian home. She has long since thrown off the shackles of her narrow-minded, bourgeois upbringing. But it's hard to get rid of everything one was raised with.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I find it both sad and disturbing that she can't more completely throw off those shackles.

Among the reasons I'm so opposed to organized religion is people like your wife. Being raised in almost any religion is pure brainwashing. There's a strong flavor of: Don't think for yourself. Trust us. Let us tell you what's right. Let us tell you what to believe.

And even when people so raised break away, they still find it exceedingly difficult to think for themselves. To really think for themselves.

But it sounds as if she's making progress.

Not that you need any advice from me, but encourage her to read books. Novels, non-fiction, lots and lots of stuff, and a very wide range of things. Historical fiction, biography, science fiction, epidemiology, mystery, history, thrillers, sociology, romance, anthropology. As wide a range of subjects as possible.

[Aristus]

11. That's what got her this far. She's a voracious reader. She's read everything she could get her

hands on.

When she ran out of things to read in the house, she used to read her kids' Babysitter Club books.

Her only real issue: abortion.

On everything else, and I mean: everything else, she's with us...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. Good to know.

So long as she keeps reading she'll be okay.

[LittleGirl]

16. I didn't think that Democrats

were ever labeled abortion proponents. That's what the republicans have labeled us.
We are about free choice. Free to keep the fetus, free to not keep the fetus, you know, having a right to make our decisions on our own body and future. It's really about economics and free will. Her bible has that in there. She should read it again.

Since she is a one issue voter, I wish you well.

[Warpy]

20. A lot of people inherited it. My NY mother did

She also voted Socialist whenever one was on the ballot. My midwest dad inherited being a Democrat, but he loved those phony Federal tax cuts and voted Republican. They both thought I was a Communist, so we declared a political armed truce.

My dad shocked the hell out of me in 2004 when he said he was going to vote for Kerry. I was too busy picking my lower jaw off the floor to ask him much about it but I guess 4 years of Stupid had finally done it.

[BainsBane]

5. She longs for the GOP of yore

That no longer exists. I know Republicans like that. It's hard for them.

[Aristus]

7. I don't blame her.

It's hard to get further to the left than me. But I'd give anything for a reasonable, civil, cultured, loyal opposition again.

It's how Democracy works. But the repukes don't want democracy; they want autocracy. (As long as they are the ones in charge, of course...)

[bravenak]

8. Amen

[LittleGirl]

17. Don't they really want a dictator?

#45 is their dream come true!

[LenaBaby61]

15. She longs for the GOP of yore...

LONG gone ....

[NotThisTime]

21. My Husband threw off the R label for the D label by the time Obama came on the scene

W. was enough to finally FINALLY throw him off of voting for any R's. Now it's not even a question. The R's are so rabid even he isn't with them, which is sort of amazing to me.

[ParanoidFactoid]

9. Opposing Trump...

is not a partisan question any longer. He's a threat to world stability.

[Aristus]

12. Welcome to DU!

[TexasTowelie]

14. I guess that you can still stay with her then

as long as she doesn't keep you from accessing the spirits on one of your "ask me anything" nights.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

18. I compare it to being loyal to your "school".

The long, long life of the alma mater. I think it comparable to allegiance to USC vs UCLA. There is just no way you can switch schools and cheer on your chief rival. That stuff is drilled into us since junior high school.

[phylny]

19. Same with my husband. Voted Obama/Obama/Clinton last three cycles. n/t