Growing up in Maine, I was comfortable being Independent, straddling the lines, issues, and platforms of both major parties with a little bit of green and libertarian thrown in for good measure. Now living in Florida, I feel it may be more important to not straddle and come to grips with my Democratic majority and keep the Republican beliefs under the radar. Some states are so 2 party and that's it, it's scary.
What would make you change political parties? I didn't think much of it when I melted away a little from my Independent identity. I'll still vote with my independent mind. But what if you were to switch from Democrat to Republican. Is it much of a change? Most would say yes and think something drastic must have happened to your political mind to cause such a crisis. You and I, just regular citizens may not have to explain your alteration to too many people, if anyone. But what if you were to make that change and you were an elected official, appointed official, or a public figure? You're going to have to answer why to a heck of a lot of people, no?
So, how did a Republican justice from Texas explain his switching sides from elephant to donkey?
It was just after presiding over a same-sex wedding, in January, that the formerly Republican Justice Terry Jennings, of the Texas First Court of Appeals, started thinking more seriously about changing his party affiliation.
Jennings had been considering becoming a Democrat for years as he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the way the Republican Party had trended toward the fringes, turning “moderate” into a dirty word, he said. And as his children, two daughters in college and a son in high school, continued to ask their dad why he still identified as a Republican, Jennings said the question continued to grow harder to answer.
Then came the wedding.
When others commented to him that deciding to preside over a same-sex wedding was a decision many other Republican judges may not have made, “that's when I started thinking, Well maybe I'm not in the right party then,” Jennings told the Houston Press in an interview Monday.
The change-over makes him the only Democrat among the nine justices on the First Court of Appeals. Democrats make up just 12 of 73 jurists on the state's 14 courts of appeal.
Jennings made the formal announcement at the Harris County Democratic Party's Johnson, Rayburn and Richards fundraising dinner on Saturday evening, saying "today’s Republican Party has chosen a dark path I cannot take." Elected in 2000 to the First Court of Appeals, Jennings said he was once proud to call himself a member of the Republican Party, and had always considered himself a conservative judge who applied the law just as it was written. Now, however, Jennings says his principles no longer align with those of the GOP.
“It's just a party I didn't feel comfortable being a member of anymore,” he told the Press. “You've heard the common expression a thousand times: I didn't leave my party; my party left me. And it's true.” – Houston Press
Was it just him officiating a same-sex wedding that made him jump from the sinking U.S.S. G.O.P.? Or were there other issues / concerns that went into his decision besides LGBT rights? Head over to the Houston Press to see what he has to say, as well as his shout out to Sec. Hillary Clinton.
Will we see the two party system crumble as we know it? Will another party rise out of the crumbling GOP or will there be a new party come out of the red, white, and blue?
"My values and principles have not changed since 2000, but those of the Republican party have.: – Terry Jennings.
h/t: Houston Press