Searching for My Peeps

I have stepped out of my comfort zone and ask you to do the same

First, I’m gonna confess that I am a bit of a nerd. A fun nerd, but a nerd nonetheless. The joke in our family is that my husband and I met in the library at law school. It was mostly true!  

In high school I followed the Watergate hearings on TV and took pride that my GOP Senator Lowell Weicker was a principled member of the Committee.

I later interned for him during a semester of college and returned that summer to work, when he very briefly ran for President in 1979. In law school, I worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee Legal Counsel one summer, and after two weeks of “campaign college”, I went to Ohio to help John Ashbrook’s widow in a special election.

As an attorney, I worked for both Republican and Democratic U.S. Attorneys, and always worked my butt off. We were taught that our job was to deliver justice - not to “win”.  I also worked at Main Justice, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General for the last year of Bush 41, but retained my status as a career employee (as opposed to a political appointee).

After that I worked again as an Assistant US Attorney until I “retired” and became immersed in other things including several local non-profits. By then we were living in Texas, and I was struggling with the extremist tea party takeover of the GOP.  Together with others, we tried and failed to course-correct locally.

Did I ever agree completely with the GOP? No. But to me, the GOP was the party of Lincoln, Weicker’s “principle over party”, the Big Tent of Ronald Reagan, GOP U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted GOP elected officials, Bush 41’s competence and Bush 43’s compassionate conservatism. That party no longer exists. It left me. And I’m ashamed to admit that it took me longer than it should have before I left it.

I am now officially an “unaffiliated voter.” And I am wondering: Where are my peeps?

Some are still hiding in the GOP, waiting for some miracle to strike the party into rejecting the monster who is literally consuming it. How long are you going to wait?  Do you expect him to magically disappear? Especially now, when he needs the party’s cash and the immunity that comes with the office?

Some are rudderless due to the loss of GOP leaders who were respected, elected and willing to join forces with Democrats and Independents in order to address pressing issues at the local, state or federal level. Those officials discovered that the cult-of-personality will not tolerate such ventures and they are soon sidelined, primaried or gone by their own choice. 

Some, out of a need for self-preservation, have dropped out of the whole political scene - understandably feeling discouraged and helpless to make changes. But that approach rewards the monster and his puppets, the exact opposite of the desirable result in an American Democracy.

To my peeps:  I have found you. I see you. Our country needs you.

I have stepped out of my comfort zone to ask you to join me and do the same. Find a group locally or nationally that is working to preserve democracy and the rule of law and help them in any way that you can. I have found my peeps at The Union, a single purpose coalition of folks from all parties, states, religions and ideologies who are dedicated solely to defending democracy and preserving the rule of law. We work with partners on the ground to encourage citizens to register and to vote for pro-democracy candidates up and down the ballot via activities posted on The Union Action Center.

If Liz Cheney can dedicate this year to defeating a self-absorbed, wannabe autocrat who lacks character and is unfit to serve as U.S. President, we can too. Join us at JoinTheUnion.US so we can get back to regular order. Our children, grandchildren, country and the world will be better for it.

Post submitted by Amy Lecocq, a former Republican, lifetime democracy defender, current goat mama, and volunteer with The Union

Note: The views and opinions expressed by volunteer contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Union, a single-issue organization that welcomes all and is dedicated to protecting democracy.

If you’d like to help defend democracy in the US, we invite you to join The Union.