From a former Republican

The Republican tea party movement started my exit from the Republican Party. Its rigid “No new tax” agenda (with its enforcement measures of party censorship and removal of any member out of line) set the party up for extremists.

This extremism has now culminated in the brutal Capitol Hill riot that cannot and should not be excused or forgotten. Compromise, not extremism, is what keeps democracy alive. Look at dictatorships and see what happens when there is no tolerance.

As a Christian, I know there is right and wrong that needs to be addressed, but most areas of democratic governing are about compromising, while always maintaining equal rights for all. I believe we need to legislate moral laws remembering we can’t legislate morality.

Donald Trump appealed to the extreme thinking of the Republican Party because of his uncompromising stance. However, that stance was maintained by bullying and name-calling, frenzied rallies, cultish chants, exaggerated claims and exclusion. The end does not justify the means. Democracy is not an end in itself but a fluid journey kept in place by freethinking, compromising people.

I became a political independent when I saw the steady leadership of President Barack Obama steering us out of a recession. Donald Trump has been the only Republican I have not voted for in 45 years. I am saddened and disturbed by how far the party of Abraham Lincoln has fallen. As Senator Lindsey Graham said in recent days, “enough is enough!”

Madeleine Ross

Spokane