"It is by the goodness of God that in our country, we have those three unspeakably precious things; freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, 'n the prudence never to practice any of 'em." Mark Twain
Growing up, I considered myself to be a Democrat. The first time I voted was for Adlai Stevenson against Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower was a big hero of WWII. There were only 48 states back then and 'I like Ike' was extremely popular, even among Democrats. Adlai was photographed with a big hole in the sole of his shoe, I suppose to make him more identifiable with us common folk. I voted for him 'cuz I was a Democrat but Eisenhower won in a landslide.
The next Presidential election was 1960 and I voted for JFK. Contrary to what a lot of people might believe today, it was a close election. JFK joked about his father buying the election for him but didn't want to buy any more votes than was absolutely necessary.
A close re-reading of history might show there was a lot of truth in that joke.
I remained a Democrat, however, until the election of 2000, when I felt that I couldn't with any conscience, continue to support the Democrat Party and changed my registration to Republican.
I would have registered as a Libertarian but wanted to continue to vote in the primaries here in California.
I am still a registered Republican, but with strong Libertarian leanings and, in normal times, cast my vote for the person that I feel is best suited for the job regardless of party affiliation.
But these don't seem t'be normal times and the Democrat Party has become so corrupt, at least in my eyes, that I find myself unable to cast a vote for anyone who identifies as a Democrat.
There may not be such a thing as 'normal' times but I've been around a very long time now and I've never seen such blatant division in the populace of this country.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as the USSR or Soviet Union for short) consisted of Russia and surrounding countries that today make up Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
The USSR was founded in 1922, five years after the Russian Revolution overthrew the monarchy of the czar, and was dissolved in late 1991.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was a somewhat unsuccessful effort by Russia to keep the USSR together in an economic alliance.
Of the fifteen constituent republics of the USSR, three of these countries declared and were granted independence a few months preceding the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The remaining twelve did not become independent until the USSR fell completely on December 26, 1991.
I see the European Union coming apart at the seams, with Belgium, Italy and Spain on the verge of breaking up into smaller countries much as the Soviet Union and I must confess that I fear a re-play of 1860 in the United States.
I've had many people tell me that such a thing could not happen here, not in this day and age but I'm reminded of that old aphorism that 'the only constant is change.'
"It ain't best that we should all think alike; it's the difference of opinion that makes horse races." Mark Twain
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