by
Zeno
Potas
This
is a second in a series of articles written by Americans who, in their
own words, reveal their own epiphanys’ about what is REALLY going
on in this country. Using their intellect and critical analytical
thinking they discuss how they broke through the lies and propaganda
which envelopes our citizens minute by minute of every day to find
truth.
It
was always a given that Republicans are bad people, representative of
that shameful sliver of our flawed society that values money above
the planet and think the world would be better off if everyone were a
straight, white male. Left to their own devices, they would exclude
ethnic minorities from everything, kick sinful gay offspring onto the
streets, and pave our parks over with oil derricks.
Of
course, there are the less malicious Republicans, the ones who have
fallen victim to their gun-toting, Bible-thumping families and sadly
do not know any better than what they have been told. This type is
not entirely to blame for their ignorance; they just deserve our
pity. Republicans are bad. At a minimum they are racist,
misogynistic and homophobic and Trump is nothing less than Satan
embodied. These truths are held by my family and our extended social
and political networks to be self-evident. Post-election family
gatherings devolved into group Trump-bashing.
When,
in my adulthood, the liberal policy agenda became problematic for me,
I found myself at a loss. I began to raise questions with my family
and friends, and met resistance. My concerns were that the
Affordable Care Act has made medical
treatment of my bipolar disorder more expensive than ever. As
a small business owner, I am regularly assaulted with financially
crushing, nonsensical red tape and bureaucracy, much implemented as
lip service to environmental protection. With few exceptions, every
one of my good friends feels more economically hopeless after the
“recovery” than before, and abject homelessness on the streets of
my beloved city has swelled to egregious levels. Under
the nuclear agreement, Iran flagrantly continues to enrich uranium
and fund terrorist activities. It
was not because my concerns were particularly inappropriate; I was
just not supposed to be questioning at all.
In
desperation, like a closeted teenager sneaking into a porn theater, I
surreptitiously began to explore the forbidden territories of Fox
News and other conservative outlets. Incredibly, I found myself
agreeing more often than not...I did everything in my power to avoid
that one last unspeakable, fatal option: turning Republican.
I
reached my threshold where no amount of hypothetical Republican
bigotry or greed could approach the magnitude of hypocrisy,
corruption, or criminality I saw rotting the Democrats to the core. I
jumped ship...I found out almost immediately that the Republican
Party is not only not evil, but populated with nice, intelligent,
humble people. It
took 36 years for me to see through the Democratic mystique of what
the Republican Party is. Having done so has enabled me to affirm a
deep part of who I am, which runs deeper than religion or sexual
orientation, because it is part of what forms me. Sadly,
it was a part that I should not
ever have had to question in the first place. If the struggles of the
LGBT and Jewish peoples have taught me one thing, it is that I count,
I matter, no more or less than any other man—precisely not because
of my sexual preferences, or the God I worship, but because I am a
citizen of planet Earth. The knowledge there is a major political
party that extends this creed to its members has restored a
deep-seated hope inside of me for my country’s future.
Adam
Paul Levine holds a BA in painting from Pomona College and a masters
in economics from the London School of Economics. He is founder and
CEO of the home restoration business Marc Sid Limited
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