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A couple of years ago, I proudly checked the ‘Republican’ box on a voter registration form handed to me by democracy-loving volunteers who were tabling in Ernie Davis Dining Center.

Today, I am a ‘Republican’ no more. 

As I watched a mob of brainwashed, conspiracy-minded Trump supporters, egged on by our president, storm the United States Capitol and disrupt Congress’s certification of the election, a personal dilemma manifested itself that required me to reevaluate deeply that innocent, nigh, naïve decision I made as an SU freshman.

A party that had once accommodated my libertarian beliefs has since either, at best, ignored a growingly authoritarian executive or, at worst, embraced him. Do I continue to stick it out with my party, hoping for a return to the heroic values that formed the original Republican ethos? Or, do I accept the hard truth in front of my own eyes? The Republican Party’s tolerance for and meek objection to the recklessness of President Donald Trump and his die-hard supporters forever tarnishes the great legacy of Abraham Lincoln’s GOP.

Alas, I cannot be a ‘Republican’ in 2021 and simultaneously profess my enormous respect for the Constitution and love for the U.S.

President-elect Joe Biden’s televised call for peace in Washington, D.C., which he gave to Americans before the president’s own half-hearted statement, gave me hope that Biden, while he does not represent my political values, will at least put in a real effort to keep my country safe while a more conservative or libertarian movement hopefully regains control of the GOP.

While I am proud of Vice President Mike Pence and other Republican leaders who woke up today with the intent to do their Constitutional duties, their last minute rejection of Trump’s delusions of a “landslide” election is too little too late. A woman was killed today in the chaos and violence, and Republicans’ failure to rein in the fanatical wing of their party played a role in today’s deadly mayhem.

I applaud SU’s College Republicans for their public condemnation of the “attempt to overthrow our constitutional republic by President Trump and the fanatics in the Capitol building.” These young Republicans give me profound confidence that the future of the Republican Party is in good hands. 

Nevertheless, I am retiring my Republican Party pin tonight and placing it in the closet, at least until I can once again wear it in public with pride. I won’t hold my breath.

Cesar Gray is a senior political science and government major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at cfgray@syr.edu.

Published on January 6, 2021 at 11:42 pm