If I were still a conservative

I left the Republican Party nearly 12 years ago. As I wrote on my LiveJournal on February 26, 2010:

Ten years ago Monday was my last act as a Republican, when I voted for John McCain in the 2000 Michigan Republican Primary, which was pretty much the high water mark of his campaign. After that, it was all downhill for McCain and George W. Bush won the nomination. As soon as it became clear that W was going to win, I left the party, which I had been a member of since I had registered to vote in 1978. There was no way I was going to vote for W or remain associated with a party that would have him as their standard bearer. The past ten years...have validated my decision.
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As a scientist, I could not in good conscience have tolerated being associated with such people.

Thus ended 22 years of being a Republican.

Since some habits die hard and I wondered which ones still survived after more than a decade, I took About.com's "What Kind of Conservative are you?" quiz to find out.

My Conservative Identity:

You are a Faith-Based Fighter, also known as a religious or social conservative. You believe in Judeo-Christian values, restoring God’s rightful place in the public square, and in showing all the unwashed and unsaved liberal sinners the path to salvation, or at least to the GOP.

Take the quiz at
About.com Political Humor

I got the result that I expect my ex-wife would get. Lovely. Looks like a dozen years of going to church with her and listening to her pious proclamations had an effect. Too bad she was such a hypocrite that she ended up driving me away from the faith.

If you're wondering about the other possibilities, here they are.

• Flag-Waving Everymen, also known as patriots— believe in championing liberty over tyranny, apple pie over sushi, and that God gave us a two-day weekend so we could enjoy football and NASCAR.

• Free Marketeers, also known as a fiscal conservative—believe in free-market capitalism, tax cuts, and protecting your hard-earned cash from pick-pocketing liberal socialists.
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• Values Guardians, also known as cultural conservatives—believe in protecting the American way of life and fighting a culture war against liberal moonbats and the lapdogs in the lamestream media who are out to destroy decent, moral Americans like Sarah Palin for daring to defend traditional values.

• Anti-government Gunslingers, also known as libertarian conservatives or Tea Partiers—believe in smaller government, states' rights, gun rights, and that, as Reagan once said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

• Freedom Crusaders, also known as neoconservatives—believe in taking the fight directly to the enemy, whether it's terrorists abroad or the liberal terrorist appeasers at home who give them aid and comfort.

During the decade before I met my wife, I'd probably have been a Free Marketeer. As for what I am now, I'm an Eco-Avenger.

My Liberal Identity

You are an Eco-Avenger, also known as an environmentalist or tree hugger. You believe in saving the planet from the clutches of air-fouling, oil-drilling, earth-raping conservative fossil fools.

Take the quiz at
About.com Political Humor

That's a much better fit for me. Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, I've always been an environmentalist.