Reagan and Bush Would be “Booted Out” of the GOP Today

I was born in 1971, so I am 54 years old. When the presidential debates of Reagan and Bush were occurring in 1980, this is who they were. Reagan and Bush would have been booted out of today’s Republican party.

I was born into a very conservative Republican family in Texas. It takes a while for a person like me to grow and see the full scope of issues. Now that I understand the dangers of trickle-down economics starting in the 1980s, the dangers of hindering bodily autonomy in exam rooms with doctors, and the suppression of civil rights which do not include inclusion, equal access to necessities, and equality for all people in a pluralistic democracy, I have come to a much fuller understanding of what freedom and opportunity means for everyone. I’m thankful for living in San Antonio for 20 years, raising a family here, and seeing so much more during the Trump era.

I do give old school Republicans like Reagan and Bush credit where credit is due. They had compassion for immigrants. They understood why immigrants were important, why their families are important, and sought paths to legal residency and citizenship. They may have used old school or outdated language about immigrants, but you can see that maybe or quite possibly they actually cared about immigrants and Latino people. I could see this is Bush’s face as he proudly said, “part of my family is a Mexican.” Reagan signed the law which allowed emergency medical care for all people regardless of legal status or not, yes Ronald Reagan! (more writing below this video).

I want to say a word about the Mass Deportation project of today which is antithetical to the Reagan and Bush era of the 1980s. I grew up with a dad who is a retired secret service agent. Of course I was taught to respect and obey law enforcement and the military. The various law enforcement and military branches over recent decades have had extensive training which include training in cultural sensitivity, police brutality, and proper restraints which are not supposed to injure anyone.

Learning why cultural sensitivity training in law enforcement is so important has made me a better-informed person and hopefully a better person overall. What we are experiencing right now in this morphed branch of “law enforcement” among at least some of these “officers” is a forming police state rooted in fear, terror, raw impulse, and cruelty of at least some untrained officers, maybe not the entire branch. This type has now arrested, detained, deported, and even killed too many legal residents and US citizens branching from the Trump regime.

This branch of law enforcement to the left until recently had to wear their badges and dress unmasked. They were required to have a warrant to break in anywhere. To the right are at least some of the officers in “this morphed branch of law enforcement.” These types are terrorizing communities, breaking into homes without a warrant, not using proper restraint methods, and not utilizing proper training. If they were, they would not be masked, ID would clearly be shown, and they would need warrants to break in anywhere.

I believe this is what the Trump administration wants, “officers” who act off of impulse and masked rather than officers who act off of good training and self-restraint. This branch of “current deportation law enforcement” is not American; it’s a militarized regime aimed at hunting down people with Black and Brown skin, other minorities, and anyone who dissents. Black and Latino people built this country. They are largely why all of us have had a prosperous nation, so many freedoms, and gifts. I am sorry for the current treasonous administration. I stand with you and all who love our immigrants, not MAGA and Trump.