Time for Thinking Republicans to Get Real

You live in the suburbs of Richmond and you make $72,000-a-year in the information technology field. You’re 31 and single, but you’ve been sort of engaged for a year. Even though you voted for George W. Bush in 2004, John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012, let’s say you’re a smart guy.

Your father grew up as a Barry Goldwater fan and was a delegate to the national Republican conventions in 1988 and 1992. So, by habit, you’ve thought of yourself as a Republican for as long as you can remember. In great part, because you see 9/11 as the worst event in American history, you support a muscular foreign policy with a strong military to back it up. You’ve never questioned whether striving to make governments smaller and all taxes lower were important priorities.

Yet, you've got a problem with some political matters that's getting worse. Although you're personally against most abortions, you don’t see how anyone can justify forcing a woman to have a baby she doesn’t want, especially in cases of rape, etc. When Republicans oppose same-sex marriage it bothers you. When it comes to shutting down the government, or refusing to pay already approved-of debts -- supposedly, to fight the deficit -- you see it as irresponsible gamesmanship and a losing strategy. Birthers give you the willies. And, you’re more than a little uncomfortable with high-profile Republicans who deny man’s role in climate change.

Your problem is that in the last five years your political party has lurched toward the angry lunatic fringe. It has left you and many others in a time when it was still possible to be a realistic conservative with a conscience. And, speaking of time, now it’s time for you to break a bad habit and embrace reality.