Becoming a Republican
When I first registered to vote at age 18 in 1976, I was surprised to be asked what party I wanted to join. After a flash of panic, I remembered my parents were Republicans. That must be our party.
It took several more years to gain enough knowledge about the respective platforms of Republicans and Democrats to feel a true sense of loyalty to one party over the other. Democrats were in favor of social programs to share the wealth. The idea was to tax people in proportion to their income and provide support to those less willing or able to find and keep a job. In contrast, Republicans valued individualism and low taxes. Each citizen needed to support themselves and their family, lifting themselves up by their bootstraps, if necessary. Republicans were willing to fight for our freedom. Republicans had strong moral values and respect for law and order. Yes, I could sign on to that. It was obviously the best fit for a Christian like me.
Evolving views
Despite being a card-carrying Republican, I wasn’t one to vote “straight ticket” over the years, often splitting my ballot. After all, Indiana Democrats such as Evan Bayh, Indiana’s governor from 1989-1997, tended to land on the conservative end of their party on social issues. However, it wasn’t until Barack Obama came along in 2008 that I first cast my ballot for a Democrat to be President of the United States. That choice had less to do with well-studied political views than simply liking what Obama had to say and how he said it. And I liked the idea of electing a Black man as President. That year, Indiana’s electoral votes went to Obama. Looking back from 2025, it’s hard to believe Indiana went blue in 2008, but I was part of it.
After voting for Obama again in 2012, I was less Republican than I had ever been. It didn’t take much exposure to Donald Trump to decide I would not be voting for him. I was shocked when he won not only the Republican nomination, but enough electoral college votes to move into the White House. I was even more startled to learn that friends and family I thought shared my values voted for him. Over time, many became passionate defenders of him. I have seen people from less conservative areas suggest that voting for Trump is a sign one isn’t a “real Christian” (while my more conservative friends and neighbors often have the opposite view), but these were indeed “real Christians” — pastors, church leaders, people who study the Bible and know it well, committed followers of Jesus Christ. I couldn’t understand it.
When, after a four-year respite under Joe Biden, Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2021, I realized that I no longer wanted to be associated with the Republican party. If Republicans support what Trump stands for even after lengthy exposure to his bully tactics, I need to find a new party. But am I ready to call myself a Democrat?
Considerations
One motivation to reconsider my politics was observing how the Republicans have changed over the years to the point where they support the policies of the current administration. We are far from the days when President George W. Bush talked about “compassionate conservatism.”
Another consideration is how I have changed over the years. I am no longer convinced that people who have better jobs or more money are somehow of better moral character than those who have less. I have realized that not everyone has bootstraps with which to pull themselves up. In short, I have more empathy for those who have been pushed aside by society. I care about those who struggle to catch up from a disadvantaged starting place. The idea of offering such people tax-funded assistance has a lot more appeal to me than it once did.
Another attractive aspect of the Democrat party is how much more diverse its leaders are in gender, religion, and cultural heritage. DEI – diversity, equality, and inclusion – has become a concept openly rejected by Republican leadership. But I want to be inclusive. I love the diversity I find in all of creation, including within humanity. I regret the fact that some people have fewer open doors in their lives than others based on differences having to do with gender, socioeconomic level, culture, skin color, country of origin, age, sexual identity, or disability.
In recent days, empathy has been described as a weakness and even a sin by some Republicans. But I actively cultivate empathy in my own life by exposing myself to the life experiences of people not like me through books, movies, social media, and a variety of cultural experiences. I seek out their stories and their view of the world. I am willing to walk into those stories to become more aware of views other than the one being white, born in America, and fluent in English gives me. I still discover prejudices within myself, but I am trying to set them aside rather than embracing them.
Does that make me a Democrat in our two-party system? This is a question I have wrestled with as Trump’s second term has threatened the very foundations of the American experiment.
Faith and politics
Republicans like to think of themselves as the Christian party, based, as much as anything, on being against abortion and homosexuality, but Jesus never addressed either issue. Instead, he called us to a life of love and compassion. He reached out and drew in people whom others excluded. He treated women as worthy partners in conversation. He asked questions and listened to people. He touched the untouchable. He offered healing rather than harm. He told us there is blessing in being merciful, in being peacemakers, in humility. He called us to a life of generosity; to give food to the hungry, care for the sick, and welcome the stranger. He offered grace to those others pushed aside.
It is not in spite of my Christian values that I can no longer be associated with the Republican party, but because of them. Compassion and grace toward the poor and oppressed are virtues I seek to cultivate, not devalue.
It took a while to get here, but I truly believe that, as a whole, the Democrat party values are more “Christian” than those of the Republican party. That doesn’t always come through in individual leaders. Power and authority in this world have never meshed well with the values of the Kingdom of God. And I know there are good Christian people still embracing the Republican party. Still, I feel like the pressure on the Republican side is to be less compassionate, less merciful, to emphasize the Ten Commandments while pushing aside as weak and impractical Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, whereas the pressure on the Democrat side is more toward the compassion and generosity Jesus taught.
Beyond the question of which political party in the U.S. is a better fit for me as a follower of Jesus Christ is the question of whether I should align myself with any nation or political structure in this world. IF I am going to do that, however, I want to choose the one I feel has a better grasp of Christian values. And right now, I am convinced the values of the Democrat party better reflect the life of mercy, compassion, and grace to which Jesus calls us.
