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I've been thinking about this phrase "RINO" a great deal lately, and I have concluded that this term "Republican in name only" may actually apply more to like minded individuals such as those on this forum than it does to the Republicans in elected offices.
What I mean by this is that the Republican Party has changed, the Party's values no longer resemble those of past years. The Republican office holders appear to be more interested in status quo and remaining in office than the Constitution and the liberties of the deplorables and rednecks (in case you missed it Bill Clinton has now referred to Trump supporters as rednecks) who voted for them.
The Republican Party and I no longer hold dear the same American values and rights as we used to. I haven't changed, so I am led to conclude that the Republican Party has become something different. Thus, it leaves me in the position of "Republican in name only" as I vote Republican but do not see eye to eye with the establishment Republicans who look down upon me from their lofty positions of power.
And the only reason I vote Republican is because at this time the "R" candidates are the only ones who stand a chance to be elected against the "D" candidates whom I abhor.

I agree my friend. Sadly, Bill is not the only one looking down at the Trump voter. There are some even on this very forum, who have been members for years, who now casually refer to us as "know nothing Republicans".

Oh yes, we are truly great at shooting down our own, at the time so close to this election and where loyalty can not be seen anymore.

I'm a deplorable know nothing RINO trumpeteer.

I will be voting Republican in the presidential race this year, as I have done every year since I turned 18. But I have never considered myself to be a Republican. I am a Conservative Libertarian. I believe that in general, the government should stay out of our lives as much as possible (including staying out of the intimate decisions that consenting adults choose to make). Where I differ from that basic philosophy, I tend to err toward Conservative principles (strong military, etc). I vote Republican because of the two candidates that actually have had a chance to win, the one that is closest to my beliefs has always been a Republican. Things are no different this year.

Soccerdad1995 wrote:I will be voting Republican in the presidential race this year, as I have done every year since I turned 18. But I have never considered myself to be a Republican. I am a Conservative Libertarian. I believe that in general, the government should stay out of our lives as much as possible (including staying out of the intimate decisions that consenting adults choose to make). Where I differ from that basic philosophy, I tend to err toward Conservative principles (strong military, etc). I vote Republican because of the two candidates that actually have had a chance to win, the one that is closest to my beliefs has always been a Republican. Things are no different this year.

Thanks for your responses.

I too have been voting since turning 18. I'm in my 60's now and have always voted Republican. I've always considered the lowliest of the Republican Party to be better than any Democrat running. This year is a prime example.

To paraphrase the Great Communicator, "'I didn't leave the Republican party. The Republican Party left me."

Soccerdad1995 wrote:I will be voting Republican in the presidential race this year, as I have done every year since I turned 18. But I have never considered myself to be a Republican. I am a Conservative Libertarian. I believe that in general, the government should stay out of our lives as much as possible (including staying out of the intimate decisions that consenting adults choose to make). Where I differ from that basic philosophy, I tend to err toward Conservative principles (strong military, etc). I vote Republican because of the two candidates that actually have had a chance to win, the one that is closest to my beliefs has always been a Republican. Things are no different this year.

Interesting that you describe yourself as a Conservative Libertarian, that is a term my wife used to describe her political views soon after we met. When she explained to me what that was the old proverbial light bulb went off in my head suddenly I had discovered a label for my own views that I had previously been unaware of. You are probably going "Huh!!!" at this point, however the concept of Libertarian Conservative does not really exist on the other side of the Atlantic. Over there then if you are conservative, then by definition you support the establishment, the elite, the ruling class. If you oppose that elite then you must be liberal or socialist. People still have not really grasped that the left only wants to replace one elite with another, even if they do they assume it is somehow better than the previous elite

As I see it what makes this great country so special, so unique, is it seems to be the only place on earth, the only bastion of Individualism. Everywhere else including the country of my birth has either always been or has steadily marched down the road of collectivism.

To my way of thinking there are Collectivists and Individualists. Well we all know that all the flavours on the political left are collectivists. As for the conservatives well there are the Libertarians as for the others I think they should be called Patrician Conservatives, after all they seem to think of themselves as Roman senators and seem to be just as about as effective at resisting the excesses of the Emperor.

I hear people in this forum often say how the Dems are trying to turn the US into the EU. Maybe the GOP is trying to turn itself into a UK or EU style conservative party.

Now of course as a simple green card holder, I can't vote in this election but if I could you could probably guess where my vote would go

Guess?

Not me.

Vote for Trump!