I have been voting for a very long time. Sometimes democrats won and sometimes republicans won. The issues that we voted on then were simple. Republicans voted for fiscal responsibility and lower taxes and democrats voted to improve social conditions for their own families and for the families of all Americans at risk. Both parties were sincere in their opinions about what was best for the country. America’s strength was about working on compromises to find the best solution that both parties could agree on.

Recently the Republican Party has changed. It is now about gaining power and putting into effect their own values and their own opinions on all issues by any means that they can, even when a majority of the voters may not agree with them.

Many long-time republicans and also recent moderate republicans are becoming concerned about the direction their party is taking. Moderate republicans love our democracy just as democrats and independents do, and don’t want to lose the rights we have all fought so hard to win for all of our citizens. They don't really want to vote for the authoritarian leaders their party is backing. They don’t like the campaign of hate and disinformation that their party is using to win at any cost. The question now for more moderate republicans in our country is what will they do with their vote in the coming elections?

Moderate republicans are now faced with a difficult decision. If they don’t feel that they can vote either republican or democratic then their only option would be not to vote at all in the next few elections until their party again becomes the strong and valued party that they have always loved and remembered from the past.

Will moderate Republicans choose to do the right thing that they feel will save our democracy or will they do the expedient thing and vote with a party that they know is on a wrong and dangerous path? That is the challenging question that many moderate republicans are asking themselves now? The answer to that difficult question has yet to be determined.