Dirty Politics

Until I made my home in Wyoming, my political affiliation was the majority where I lived. I started voting in Maryland, a major blue state, although I will acknowledge the current governor Larry Hogan, is a Republican and well liked by the residents. He has been in office since 2015.

I know Washington D.C. has a few Republican politicians, but they are more rare than Democrats in Wyoming. I guess I could say the same thing about Hawaii.

I was registered to vote in all these places.

When I lived overseas, I don't believe I met more than a half dozen Republicans and few talked politics, so being an American Democrat was the standard while living abroad.

I enjoy being a Democrat for the most part, even in Wyoming where it can be a bit of a stigma, especially in this day and age of bitter bipartisanship.

In truth, I would register as an independent, but I would not be able to vote in primary elections for either party. I have voted since I was 18 and don't believe I have missed any voting chance in any general election and most primaries. My restaurant in Taiwan was one of those places that provided information on mail in ballots for U.S elections.

It is interesting to me when I look back at how admired I was for being a Democrat in foriegn lands. When I first went over, Bill Clinton was president. He was very popular with the Taiwanese, especially when he had an aircraft carrier go through the Formosa Straits. It is the body of water that separates China and the island. China to this day, gets very upset when the American military is around that body of water.   

George W. Bush was not such a popular president to the overseas folks I knew. Canadians were especially brutal in their disdain for him. Ironically to me in the present politics of Wyoming, Dick Cheney was way more despised than Bush.  Europeans, South Africans (I had many S.A. friends, who were both black and white), Asians and most everyone from other places felt Cheney was the real master of American policies back then. 

When people heard my home was in Wyoming, I would get the third degree about how such an evil man came out of this state.

Yeah, the guy wasn't well liked overseas during his time as vice-president.

Barrack Obama definitely was a well liked American president.

I lived in Taiwan and China during his presidency and traveled quite a lot through Asia then, he was talked about in mostly glowing terms. I am sure there are some readers cringing as they read those words.

It was a good time to be a Democrat living overseas while Obama was in office.

I left Asia before Obama's second term was up and never witnessed how Donald Trump was perceived other than a few phone calls from friends. There was little positive said about his presidency.

I accepted they were entitled to these opinions, but he was president of the United States and I did my best to counter some of the negativity, because there are usually two sides to why something is done.

I think I drove a few of my liberal friends crazy when I would try to make them see another side to what they believed. I really believe both sides should be heard.

I am no fan of Trump. 

He lost me when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out. I have been told by some who support him, it was only locker room talk.

I have been in plenty of locker rooms after playing sports and I know language can get a bit strong but to me, this wasn't locker room talk. This was a guy who had power, talking about what he could do to women because he had money. 

That isn't locker room talk.

I am really glad he isn't president any longer and I think as time goes by, I will be proven right on why I was correct to never vote for him.

I totally accept, some people will vote for him if he runs again and he is considered an excellent leader.

In the same breath, many of those folk think Biden is running the country into the ground and want him out of office as quickly as possible.  Actually, I am exposed to that thinking quite a lot living here in the Cowboy State.

Because passions run so high about leaders and parties, politics can get a bit dirty. 

I can't help getting bummed out by the dirty tricks.

The one I saw recently, was the Democratic Party doing it. Supporters started sending me texts a few days before the election for me to change my affiliation and vote Republican to keep Liz Cheney in office on the day of the election.

I found this fairly offensive.

There is no love for Trump on my part, but to switch my party, just so I can keep a critic in office who is at odds with the former president, had zero appeal.  It would be a spoiler to Wyoming politics and it isn't fair. I would find this practice distasteful if it was done to a Democratic candidate. It is the same for me to do it to a Republican candidate, even if I think this person is a bad choice. 

I have tried to point out, I have been a Democrat, popular or not. 

Why would I change my affiliation just because my party thinks it is in the best interest of their politics. 

That is B.S. in my opinion.

What about the Democratic candidates trying hard to run for this office I am being told to change for? How do they get a chance if the Democratic Party is trying to get all the Democrats to vote Republican.

I honestly find nothing redeeming about this tactic to switch parties on election day to keep a candidate out of the running.

I'm glad I didn't do it.

I won't ever do it.

I'm glad it didn't work.

I don't know if this practice can be changed, but I hope it can. If it can't, then I believe the waters in politics will just get muddier as time goes on.

I guess there is a reason, Washington D.C. is called "The Swamp."

Not because it is next to the Potomac River, that is for sure.