I’ve sided with republicans all my life. I don’t remember the date, but when I was a chubby little grade schooler or maybe in junior high, I watched the Chicago riots on our little black and white tv. To this day I’ve not cared much about what they were about, I just know they were disturbing to watch as kid. Tear gast, batons, beatings, young liberals with long hair and black people destroying things and each other’s property. Political riots seemed stupid to me then and they still do to this day.

I remember watching the news on Kent State riot and a tough looking white guy trying to protect our flag from liberal desecration.

Flag burning and destruction, violence and hate hardened this young boy against what the media  calls civil disobedience. I didn’t  see the justice in it then and I dont see it now in old age.

Early on I determined it was always leftists, young, mostly college age and educated folks that instigated the destruction. Others may have destroyed things – I called them the sheep back then.

I didn’t really see the civil rights riots as a black or white struggle.  I just saw it more like rebellion. I listened to the speeches of King, Jackson, Sharpton, Malcom X ( I didn’t like Malcom). I wasn’t much a fan of Mayor Daly,  but he was a tough guy,  young boys liked tough guys back then. I barely started  to understand politics when I listened to Bobby Kennedy, but after he was shot, I soured a bit. Johnson and speaker Tip O’Neal seemed to be corrupt fat cats.

My dad was a democrat. “Democrats were for the little guy, he said. We we’re the little guys. Dad was a drywaller. But there was always that contradiction that bothered me. Why were democrats always angry? They were the pot smoking hippy types, the anti war protesters, they burned flags, destroyed things and the lives of innocent people? All for “causes” I didn’t quite understand.

By the time I reached high school, politics affected me less. Girls, sports, activities and selfish pursuits kept my attention. But still I’d see the democrats and civil rights activists on TV. I’d watch with unaffected curiosity,  because in reality I didn’t  know racism. To me black and white  people  were just people of different colors. I sided deeply with Martin Luther King ideologically,  but I wasn’t  certain  that his life matched his ideology. I was certain by the end of high school that the movement was corrupt. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton  were getting  rich off their ideology and their gang of followers were thugs and agitators. I was beginning to sour on democrats at this point. I didn’t much care when Nuxon, Ford and Carter were in office. I liked them all, honestly.

When Regan showed up I  begun to notice a moral divide. The pot smokers, the long hairs, the anti everything crowd, cursed, rioted, and we’re into free love and sex. Playboy and Hustler promoters were for Democrats and that woke me up. Women without bras were democrats.  Abortion was popularized by Democrats. Democrats didn’t  like hunting,  guns, or hillbillies – my dad was a hillbilly. I noticed how our family was mocked for their social status, but more for our educational status. I, at the time, was the only one in our family going to college. My dad died in 1978. 

I suppose my biggest political and spiritual influences were not so much my parents,  they were too busy feeding six kids. My grandparents were wealthy by many standards. They were, proper, kind, educated,  county club members and golfers. Grandma would have tea and bridge get-togethers. She had a “colored” cleaning lady then later just a cleaning lady – her cleaning laidies were much like family,  but still of a different class. Grandpa, a doctor, had less blue blood tendencies than grandma. He would  rather  hunt and fish and golf than anything else. They were republicans, but I never heard them speak politics, they only talked about morality around me. If they saw something not right I could see and hear their disgust by little grunts or twisted expressions.

The other great influence in my youth was Coach Rex. I’ll not go into detail about the man because I’d  have to write a book. But my high school  football  coach  was a pillar of integrity  and a Christian of emence faith. He was a Marine with a haircut to match. Likewise,  he never talked politics. He was interested in me, my faith, my growth as a young man. Faith led him, morality and love followed him around. One knew where he stood on all things. Do you know the saying, “what would Jesus do? Well, you could also use the same guiding standard,  “what would Rex do?”  Coach Rex would have been the one defending the flag at Kent State, he’d never march or riot, or be an agitator. He’d never cus, chew, smoke, or “hang out with the ones that do.” He wore his morality, guided by his faith,  as a medal on his chest, always! I don’t ever recall him talking politics either, but I knew he wasn’t a liberal democrat. How could he be?

Fast forward! All this I’ve said because nothing has changed. The left still hates the flag, they still riot when they don’t get their way. “They” meaning the 3.5% of their tribe, the radicals, agitators, and leaders of their party. They are the media, the propagandists, the senators and “squad” who promote all sorts of immoral and illicit behaviors. The very things my grandparents,  my coach,  and now my family abhor.

Today, I don’t war against my liberal friends or democrats per se, I do war against principalities, powers, and the rulers of darkness. And I try to say and do good and honorable things, things taught to me by my mentors and scripture.  it’s easy for me to know who the enemies of the faith are. They are the 3.5%, likely in both parties,  its just that their methods to serve their worldly ruler are different. So once again  the scriptures are true – “There’s  nothing new under the sun.”  Do your best to follow  the pillers of your faith,  read the scriptures,  and never be haters or political  activists. 

were cursed, and hated the flag.