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Photo illustration by Jeff Boyer / Times Union

Photo illustration by Jeff Boyer / Times Union

Confessions of a former Republican

I used to be a Republican. Having worked on New York congressional and gubernatorial campaigns and for Linwood Holton, Virginia's first Republican governor in 100 years (and father-in-law of Tim Kaine), I was a proud, liberal Republican.

Liberal Republicans are an extinct breed today. Being fiscally conservative and socially liberal was not good enough for many Republicans. Somehow, their political needle kept moving, inexorably, to the right.

As the needle moved and as Republicans embraced hard-line conservative views, those of us who believed in civil liberties and social justice, who thought foreign aid made sense from a humanitarian, foreign policy and military viewpoint, who believed the environment should be protected, and who thought health care a human, if not a legal, right were thought to be suspect. Labeled RINOs (Republican in name only), we were no longer welcome in the Republican Party.

I had become an independent long before the forced exodus began. Even in the 1970s, when I was Lin Holton's special counsel and wanted to vote Republican, I did so by using an absentee ballot and writing in Lin's name for president.

From then on, I was independent. Sometimes I voted Democrat, sometimes Republican. Always, I voted for the person, not the party.

Being tied to the Republican Party was particularly difficult this year. Ironically, at the same time the Barnum and Bailey circus announced it would close, a new carnival hawker, Donald Trump, emerged to take the place of P.T. Barnum. (It should be noted, though, Barnum had political experience in the Connecticut Legislature and as a mayor.)

Despite all odds, the new-day Barnum won the presidency. Of course, no one knows what Barnum would have thought of Trump. Clearly, though, he would have been impressed by the way Trump manipulated the press (and in some cases the public, who seemed to vote against their self-interest).

Speaking of the press, it is now playing catch-up and questioning, after the fact, the newly elected president on a range of issues and lies. Let's not forget, though, how we arrived at this point.

Early on, CBS' Les Moonves said Trump was good for business. So CBS, and other networks, reported on every tweet and gave candidate Trump the opportunity to call in whenever he wished. The result: a reported $4.6 billion in free publicity during the campaign (Hillary Clinton received $1 billion).

Thanks to that free publicity, and thanks, of course, to the FBI's role in the campaign, Attorney General Lynch's foolish meeting with Bill Clinton, Republicans who could not vote for a Democrat (at least not Clinton), people who did not vote, and Russian interference, we now have a Trump presidency.

What will the Trump presidency produce? Trump's deconstructionist cabinet appointments say a great deal. With education, energy and environment heads who have advocated for the dismantling of their departments, a Treasury secretary who wants to discard banking regulations developed following the 2008 financial crisis, and an attorney general with a questionable civil rights past, the president seems bent on dismantling government.

As for health care, the administration is turning its back on both Republican history and the American people. Beginning with Teddy Roosevelt, Republicans have long championed some form of national health care. Not today. Instead, Republicans believe if you can afford health care, fine, and they will help you with tax credits; if not, you are on your own. Besides, there is always the emergency room.

A formula for successful governance? Perhaps if your goal is to dismantle government.

Why reduce government? Because taxes on the wealthy among the lowest in the developed world can then be reduced further.

Speaking of wealth, it is amazing Republicans, who railed (rightly) about Hillary Clinton's speaking fees and supposed pay-to-play contributions to the Clinton Foundation, have remained mum on clear conflicts of interest of the president and his family. The Constitution's emolument clause restricts such conflicts. Besides, benefitting from one's office is unethical.

My suspicion/prediction: Some of the president's supporters will soon find themselves with a Flint, Mich.-like moment when mine debris pollutes drinking water, when they are without health care or when a crisis develops that cannot be solved by tweeting. Then the president's base of support will weaken. And when that happens, Republicans in Congress, who would much prefer one of their own, Mike Pence, will impeach and convict Mr. Trump.

Those of us who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal have been shut out of the Republican Party for decades. The Trump phenomenon has only highlighted the gap.

At some point, the political needle will move again. Whether it will be enough to bring back folks like me, though, I don't know.

Roger H. Hull is a former president of Union College and president of the Schenectady-based Help Yourself Foundation.

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Confessions of a former Republican - Albany Times Union