I don't stand with people who go on about the debt when out of power, but then finance a temporary tax cut by blowing a hole in revenue while Increasing spending. ::Stares at Trump tax cuts:: We need revenue increases and cuts. We are lying in a convenient left/right dichotomy otherwise. Rs really like to pivot back to social crap when on power and forget about debt and deficits. Dems, for their many faults when it comes to staunchly being reactionary and standing for or against something just to be opposite conservatives, don't lie to me about their need to spend.

I ditched Paul and Buchanan because I saw a lot of crazy that was allowed to fester in those crowds. They also were very ideologically driven in support of things I'm not into (a lot of social issues mean nothing to me). I've chosen a non-ideological approach to things, particularly since becoming a father to two children.

That said, I support people on issues when they seem correct. I don't regularly see eye to eye with Rand, but his end no knock warrants bill was spot on. I supported it. Same as I supported eight can't wait rather than sign on to the ludicrousness of "defund the police." I was totally fine with Trump's SCotUS appointments and thought Kavanaugh got treated horribly. I think Trump could've easily won in 2020 had he not stumbled on COVID and not Dukakis in the tank-ed with the church photo op. I was and am a Never Trumper, but I laughed at the people who had nervous breakdowns over him in 2016 or thought Avenatti was going to bring Trump down. I didn't like everything he did (I'm an outspoken open borders guy), but I didn't feel my life generally get better or worse for me under Trump than under Obama so I was pretty meh about his presidency. It was when he started sowing doubt in the lead up to 2020 that my opposition to him started to harden. Refusing to accept the results was when I started to think he was going to do something beyond stupid. I watched his 1/6 tantrum just to see what stupid thing he'd do. The rest of that day solidified my contempt for that asshole.

I have a Dem gov I voted for twice and Republican state rep and senator I reliably vote for because they got nowhere butting heads, but put my state on firm financial footing through compromise. Including cuts and revenue increases while increasing spending when possible in key areas (education, infrastructure, etc.). I don't care what letter is after their name if some federal folks gave me that without having to also buy into either side's chosen flavor of unrelated crazy. I think most Americans would too.