This just in: I read today that about 8,800 elderly die every day. They are more likely to be Republican than not. Also, every day, 11,000 young adults reach the age of 18 and become eligible to vote. This age group tends to be predominantly Democrat.

This is not a new phenomenon. The Republicans have been losing membership constantly for the last 2 decades. The ranks of Independents and Democrats are growing. The only way the GOP can stay in power is to (1) Gerrymander to allow the minority to rule the majority or (2) Squash opposition voting through a variety of suppression techniques to allow the minority to rule the majority or (3) Keep their base fired up and angry so that they make sure they vote.

None of these have anything to do with serving the public good. NONE.

Trump gets a search warrant served. He claims the FBI planted fake evidence. The Republican Party says the FBI is corrupt and should be defunded.

That is who they are.

I was a Republican until about 2005 when I noticed Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq.

That made me skeptical. It made me stop trusting elected officials, from either party.

Instead, I turned to fact-finding. This is way, way different from waiting until I hear what I want to be true and then clinging to that.

For example, the FBI wanted to investigate Hillary. I questioned the wisdom of the timing but it never occurred to me to call the FBI corrupt because they were doing their job. In my view, if evidence said she should be investigated, then she should be investigated.

Back in the day, when I was a Republican, I liked them because they “stood up for American businesses.” They wanted to get rid of regulations. They wanted to stop taxing the rich, claiming high taxes would make the rich stop trying.

When I became skeptical when I started to look closer, I found the following: The Republican Party will support any position that (1) enriches its members and/or (2) helps it to stay in power. They were passing tax cuts for the rich simply because the rich paid them to do that. They cut regulations because companies paid them to do that.

Pay attention. That’s my recommendation. Forget what “tribe,” you think you belong to. Think about how you would like things to be done and they pay attention; not to words but deeds.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim