Updated 3/18/16

I am writing this article to explain why I am not (any more)and generally do not vote Democrat.

I should point out that I am now a Christian Conservative (with a several liberal leanings such as immigration), that often votes Republican but not always (I did NOT vote for Republican Greg Walden for Congress in the 2014, 2012, or 2010 election, as I voted Libertarian one time and Democrat the other).
Please do me the favor of reading the entire article before you make a snap judgment as to why I state what I state, as I will admit, your life experiences may have led you down a very different path, which I certainly respect and understand.

For those how might think this is just another conservative rant, I will point out that in a survey of views, political positions, etc., I came out a 6 on a scale of 1 to 9 whereby a 9 was very conservative, a 1 was very liberal, a 5 was only slightly liberal, and a 6 was only slightly conservative.

I should also point out that I am from a family on both sides, my mother and father were originally 100% Democrat, but over the years the Democrat Parties many extreme and what I/they felt were dishonest positions forced many of my family members to reconsider. My paternal grandfather was probably the most glaring example, as he was a staunch union Democrat for the majority of his life, but after Jimmy Carter and his disastrous administration (similar to Obama's) he ceased voting Democrat (more on my Grandfather later).

My conversion came in the late 1980s after warbling both ways due to strong influences within my industry (which was and still is VERY liberal and extremely dishonest too, and growing more so every year) as well as my then wife.
In my conversations back in the 1980s, I often listened and nodded in agreement as to what was wrong with Reagan from social policies, international, and economic. As for the economy, even before my full conversion I was having difficulty reconciling these views since I could clearly see that much of what I sold and who I worked for, were persons that had "extra" money. I began to see that when these persons had extra money, they bought the many non essential products and services I offered, when they did not, business went bad, in other words the FACTS of supply side economics helped my middle class business & I then employed more persons!
Prior to this, I was a big supporter of Keynesian economics going back to a an influential professor in college (although I still have blended views here as I see points from both sides).
Note, the political term of trickle down economics has been used to describe "Supply Side Economics"
Reference: Wikipedia; Supply-side economics

I will list my reasons, and I should point out that in these reasons I may often post points where I agree with Democrats, as sometimes in principle I do. However it is the extreme dishonesty and hate that is sometimes spewed from the left which I have dealt with that often turns me from their points of view.
What this article/blog post is not, is any sort of manifesto stating anyone who does vote for liberal or Democrat causes are wrong, rude, or anything else. This article simply states my life experiences that have shaped why I vote and think the way I do. If you have had similar life experiences, you might relate. If you have had opposite life experiences, I respect your view too and in fact apologize on behalf of other more conservative leaning persons.

PLEASE DO ME THE FAVOR OF READING THE ENTIRE LIST BEFORE DISAGREEING OR AGREEING, THANK YOU!

Dishonesty Hatred from the Left;
I can state as an undisputable fact that over 85% of my rude/vile emails and phone calls to my business come from liberals. I can state this based on comments made by these persons and/or by researching their views (which are very often available via Facebook, Google, etc)..

In fact the most vile email AND phone call I have ever had where she got very personal and showed unbelievable hatred and dishonesty came last week (third week of December, 2012).
This lady (if you can call her a lady) was so self absorbed and full of hate, it was hard to fathom.

What is also interesting is the few emails I get from persons with more conservative views often later apologize. As an example, a man who made some rude accusations that when tracking him showed him to have many pro-Romney posts on his Facebook page, a day later sent an email apologizing for his poor behavior in response to my help.

What is also disgusting and sad is many of these rude accusations most often from liberals is over the many free services I provide (in other words I have not made a dime off these persons, they just want even more for free and refuse to often read the self help aquarium articles I provide to back up my free advice).
Reference for "self help aquarium articles":
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Information.html

I should note that I have been involved in the Aquarium/pet industry almost my entire life and it is very heavily liberal. It became more noticeable during a few years I was training to be a commercial pilot. During this time it was like night and day how supportive everyone was of each other, unlike how persons constantly attack one another, often personally in the aquarium industry. What I also found out during this time is that most in the flying community is generally conservative.
Sadly this problem has gotten MUCH worse over the years with aquarium groups (that we sponsor too with $$$) attacking me in very vile and disrespectful ways. A good example is the a Planted Aquarium FB Forum and the PNWMAS forum/club in the extremely liberal enclave of Portland Oregon.

I will also add that my daughter made the mistake at school of admitting she agreed with Romney in the 2012 election cycle, for this she was branded a racist. I too have been called a racist for disagreeing with Obama. Sorry people, disagreeing with Obama and his politics no more makes you a racist than disliking cold weather means you hate Eskimos!!!
For me this is another disgusting example of the intolerance and hatred of the left.

Then there is the man at a previous church I attended who to this day is a liberal (as per his Facebook posts), who constantly attacked me and my wife and worse, my autistic son. His final attack when my wife was suffering postpartum depression directly led to another evil monster/psychopath getting involved and permanently harming my daughter.
The sad fact is this and similar have not been isolated instances, even when the corrupt Oregon DHS took my family based on charges from the psychopath it was primarily my conservative friends that stood by me and my family.

Since my family was hurt by rumors, gossip, lies, half truths, etc. this is something I will always stand up against.
Interestingly, it is generally liberals who will get angry with me, block me, etc when called out. Very recently a Christian man was spreading lies about me (possibly unknowingly) in a Facebook Aquarium keeping forum, yet when called out by me and my co-worker, he apologized very sincerely. This man though was conservative in his views.

I will however point out that I do know many very kind and respectful liberals, but as a generalization these persons from my indisputable statistics are in the minority.

For me, this is a major issue if not the main issue I could never return to the Democrat Party.
To find myself agreeing with persons with such hatred would make me question whether I am on the correct side of an issue or not.

Liberal persons rarely read my cited sources;
This is a case where those who most often attack me, especially personally whether it be in a political blog such as this or more often in my many in depth aquarium keeping articles, they almost NEVER READ MY SOURCES before attacking me or my articles.

How do I know?
Simple, my tracking software shows time on the page and specific clicks to outside sources and which ones. As well in the aquarium keeping article attacks, when this person can be found via blogs, Facebook G-Plus, etc, 85-90% of the time they are liberal as noted earlier!

Playing the Race Card;
As noted earlier, this is another tactic that liberals in particular like to use, that is anyone who disagrees with someone of any ethnicity is suddenly a racist.

My middle daughter who was raised to see only people, not skin color or anything else was recently called a racist for stating she did not agree with some of President Obama's positions while at Grants Pass High School.
Sadly, under President Obama, rather than bring the country together even more from some of our darker days, he has done more to divide with his comments than any president in my lifetime going back to Kennedy.

Playing the "Haters" Card;
A growing in popularity method of dealing with those liberals do not agree with is to call anyone that makes a statement such as saying "President Obama is bad for my business"; is to call this person a "Hater" or their statement "hating".
Nothing turns me off more, especially when all one has to do is turn on the television and see that the majority of hateful statements come from the left.

A recent example is on "Who's Line Is It Anyway" where a cast member was improvising someone in constant re-birth directly into adults, or as one cast member stated; "asshole adults". The examples were all conservative figures.
Had this been President Obama, Hillary Clinton, etc, I guarantee there would have been an outcry. But alas, it is OK to trash conservative persons such as Sarah Palin.

As I have already pointed out that the most hateful comments and attacks on me professionally come almost 9 out of 10 from the left, so when I make a joke about President Obama and I get called a hater, this person has lost all credibility for me, especially when I think of the hate from the left that on many countless occasions has nearly destroyed my family.

Attacks on those that anything they do not have;
This is related to my last point, but I feel deserves a separate note/point.
An example here is the attacks on those that many Democrats feel have some they do not have.

From my perspective as a small business owner is view that anything I may have achieved does not belong to me. Based on the many rude comments from liberals it is clear many feel that the fact I have a business, I must have lots of money and much of this because I got lucky. Of course the hard facts are I am upside down in my mortgage and have spent many a time working 16 hour days and 7 days a week, often at what comes out to be $2 per hour.

Even this would not be so bad if it were not for the way Democrat politicians such as President Obama and his comments such as "You did not build that" or his comments to "Joe the Plumber" in 2008 which spurs those who support him to also take such views.

Unions;
This is a subject where at its core, I actually agree with Democrats, however Unions have gotten out of control in their power in both politics and in how much power they have with the profitability of companies.

In my humble opinion, unions served a noble purpose, as many years back many companies treated (& some still do) employees as pawns that are somehow less than human. The coal mines and sweat shops are glaring examples.

Unions were able to bring dignity and fair pay into the market place, as well as a safer work environment.
However, as per my now deceased Grandfather, who was a union man, they have gained too much power and have now destroyed many companies and even States with their demands.

Michigan is a glaring example of a once great state where unions and auto makers were the pride of the world, but their demands and cronyism have destroyed this once great state.
California is another example where the public employees unions have brought this once great state to bankruptcy due to the high taxes now required to support these public employee unions and many businesses are now fleeing.
See: New tax increases in California stir debate about adding to exodus

A couple of personal examples:
- I had a friend who worked for Caltrans who bragged that he rarely had to work and spent the majority of his time doing nothing productive, all for more pay per hour and great benefits that I can never dream of in my private sector job.
- Teachers Unions; for me personally, they are the most despicable. this is NOT to knock teachers, as most are great, HOWEVER I and others were unlucky enough to get the teacher from hell (not once but twice in my elementary grades). This teacher had me stand up and announced to the class that I would be a failure in life and to "not be like Carl".
  This followed me all the way through High School and had a profound effect on my life and where I am today. I also had another similar teacher in high school.
  Sadly other good teachers I met later told me that they could not believe how this lady was allowed to teach, but the teachers union via tenure protected her job!!
I can go on with other examples of the problems of tenure and how seniority often over looks the better employee, but this is an article for another day.

Support of Abortion and Planned Parenthood in particular;
This is another major reason I began my shift away in the late 1980s.
Initially I did not have a problem with this as I agreed with the liberal mindset on this issue. However after becoming a Christian in 1987, I started looking at life differently and realized that an unborn baby is still a life, although I still understood why there should be exceptions and I still believe this is a medical procedure that should never be banned/outlawed either (which is where some of my more conservative friends disagree with me).

The real "eye opener" came a decade later when my wife, while in a deep postpartum depression after the birth of my second daughter found out she was pregnant with my son (we were also told by her Obstetrician that she likely would not be able to get pregnant again due to a "condition" she had).
She sought help from Planned Parenthood who immediately counseled her for an abortion and NEVER checked with me or other family members who might have taken the baby if need be. They NEVER inquired that she might not be acting rationally at the time either.
THANKFULLY, my mother-in-law got wind of the situation and was able to put a stop to it and we now have an awesome son who is a blessing beyond words

For this support of what amounts to infant terrorism on my family and the support the Democrat Party provide to this organization, again I cannot EVER be a Democrat!

Hypocrisy of the Left: Example Google;
There are so many examples that I can waste much of the readers time just on this subject, so I will stick with this one example. Google, is one of the top corporate donators to Obama and other Democrat causes and is sadly beloved despite their shameful corporate behavior that is rarely reported.
While this company supports Democrat candidates that have raised taxes to the point many small businesses cannot survive has the audacity to hide most of their profits offshore rather than pay the taxes their political donations have imposed on business such as mine; REALLY Google, please place your money where your mouth is???
See:
Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

Then of coarse there is Google indisputable despicable corporate behavior that would arguable be on par with some of the worst companies of the last 300 years.

Examples here include recent search algorithms that promote spam companies such as about.com or eHow.com who often have their facts VERY wrong. As well Amazon which might sell some great products directly, also utilizes third party sellers that now come up ahead of quality small company sellers with junk second rate products.

Here are a few search terms that I know for a fact (based on my expertise on the subject) know longer bring up the best results (only results that make Google more money).
*UV Sterilization
Quality Reference: Aquarium/Pond UV Sterilization; Facts & Information

*Aquarium UV Sterilizer
Quality Reference: Aquarium/Pond UV Sterilizers

*Aquarium Lighting
Quality Reference: Aquarium Lighting; Facts & Information

The facts are Google is one more representation of the Hypocrisy of the Left.

Please also read these articles about Googles poor Corporate Behavior:

*Google Dishonesty, Plagiarism, with Adsense, Adwords keyword bids, & More
*Testing Google new Penguin & Panda, Farmer Algorithm; Verdict, FAIL
*Google IS Evil, Content Plagiarism

Demonizing those who disagree with Climate Change/Man Made Global Warming;
While respectful persons can agree to disagree, there is no respect on the left that their views which are more religious than actual fact based about man-made global warming. Calling those who disagree "deniers", and telling this theory as a fact so often that many now think this is an established fact when it is far from proven; no the science is NOT settled.
A quote from Adolph Hitler, "Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you."
This even includes liberal late night comedians treating as idiots as those who have actually read many evidences against this theory, not to mention the fraud in doctoring the numbers by those supporting this theory.

The are many excellent arguments against this theory, but again my problem is not those who do agree with this theory as I know respectful persons who do, it is the considerable volume of vile comments directed at those who disagree, which unfortunately is typical of the left and is something I deal with on a daily basis in my filed of endeavor of attacking the person instead of the facts.

One example is a person who has already shown his well worded, but condescending comments toward my staff also making even more condescending and snarky attacks on my post about Global Warming.
What is so very sad is while he "politely rudely" calls me out, my tracking software showed he did NOT CHECK EVEN ONE QUOTED SOURCE!! Sadly his questions to my business have also shown a tendency to have little respect for my time and reading my sources (often asking repeated questions after hours even after asking him to respect my time and read the information already provided before asking these repeated questions). His rude comments to a staff member after the staff member made a mistake also shows this man's character.
What is noteworthy is he is clearly a liberal based on his Facebook page.

In Oct. of 2015, once again a liberal who was attacking Ben Carson's views as to Climate Change showed the typical way I have found those on the left disagree. She did NOT read my cited source, which includes a peer reviewed article refuting the 97% so-called consensus. She even got vile on me for noting that I knew she had not read my source showing this based on embedded tracking software. She clearly does not understand that this is nothing new to have tracking software, yet somehow I am a loon to even suggest this.

Another recent example was on another member from my Church where I was called a denier and the person rudely attacking me had the audacity to state I did not know the statistical facts. A quick check of my stat software showed he looked at nothing, not even for a second, yet somehow he knew me. He later had to attack me further in attempt to turn the tables on me for me calling him out on his rude liberal behavior (also factually based on stats). This person clearly had no knowledge of my background in science, which includes my life's work.
Worse in my opinion was this liberal Church member never even attempted to defend me as a friend or fellow Church member. He has defended such rude posts in the past rather than call them out. In the end, you are who you defend.
I do find it interesting how when others do step up and defend me in forums and put a stop to hate speech/bullying, that these are almost always conservatives.

Further Reading: Global Warming Hoax Exposed; Half Truths, Myths, Manipulated Data

The "over the top" anti gun attitude as per gun ownership as well as dishonesty of the statistics.

This video below explains the FACTS sourcing neutral to left leaning Wikipedia:

Then there is my own family, the fact we and my brother in law were or might have been armed was enough to deter a person from harming my family (we know this based on threatening emails)!

Dishonesty of the Media;
Nothing screams do not vote Democrat more than the media!!
In my humble opinion, despite my many disagreements with President Obama; he walks on water and is a Saint compared to the mainstream media!!

There are so many examples of their lies or often more so their omission of the news or facts that I can spend the rest of my life outlining these.

I will though point out a few here:
- Demonizing and allowing the demonization of Romney;
  Despite where you stand on this man's politics, an honest God fearing person can NEVER call him a bad person, yet the media has allowed the public to be convinced of just this.
  Here is a man that no only spent much of his personal and corporate money helping others, but also much of his time.
  
  I have read on some of our email haters personal post such things as "this man scares me", REALLY???
  I find this personally offensive since I gave up my previous business and much more to help others only to have this thrown back in my face, including by the evil man that attempted to destroy my family during my wife's postpartum depression (and forced our move here to Oregon). He even stated in one of his stalking emails he hoped Obama destroys my business!!
- The Media's failure to honestly report Obama's failure in Bengazi. While one might agree to disagree here, not reporting the known facts and letting viewers make up their decision is disgusting. The facts are is Obama watched in real time as American Heroes died while asking for help that was denied!
  If this were a Republican, the media would have destroyed him with this (President Nixon was driven out of office for far less!!!!)
- The phony "War on Women".
  Tell me, what women's rights were taken away under Bush 1 or 2 as well as Reagan???.
  While I personally do not agree with the Catholic Church's position on contraception this is their constitutional right that Obama was allowed to take away under the guise of the "War on Women" with the media running cover the whole time.
  
  I know of few conservatives or Republicans such as Romney that would totally disallow abortion (this is not to say that such persons exist, but they are in the minority among conservatives alone, yet alone the country as a whole).
  YET the media says nothing about the evils of partial birth abortion or THE FACT my wife in her depression was counseled to have an abortion by planned parenthood of my son but thanks to the Lord for my Mother in Law's intervention.
  
  This was NOT her or Planned Parenthood's right or a war on women for putting a stop to this. Persons who think this is right and with this kind of evil in their heart need to read Psalm 51:1-6;
  1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
  2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
  3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
  4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
  5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
  6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
  
  I praise the Lord for my son everyday and SHAME on Planned Parenthood for almost taking him from me and my family.
  
  Based on this personal incidence and the many extreme positions taken by the Democrat Party, the support of Abortion on demand well past viability or not allowing spousal or parental notification is where I am personally challenged with my Christian friends who look the other way on an issue so anti-Biblical and along with some Christian Democrat views toward Israel where I honestly struggle with my Church affiliation too.
For more about the dishonesty of the Media, please read:
List of Media Lies/Dishonesty & Failures; Limbaugh, Fluke, Maher, War on Women, Israel, Egypt, Breitbart, more

Taxes;
While honest persons can debate how much we should pay in taxes as well as percentages and deductions, it is the dishonesty from most Democrat Politicians that I find appalling.

Obama and others will say they are for the little guy, well I AM the little guy and my taxes continue to go up. This includes all forms of hidden taxes that affect my business and me personally, not just income taxes; Example gasoline taxes.
The facts are that the Googles, Apples and other corporations always find a way out and it is the small businesses that in the end pay the bills.

Frankly I do take it a bit personally when I help many with my free services and then they vote to put me out of business; Thanks!

Department of Human Resources or Children's Services
I do not think there is any more vile, controlling, evil, and MOST IMPORTANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL Government Agency than these!!

These people have an agenda, that destroys families all in the name of protecting children.

The common excuse I here for their abuse of authority and assuming guilt before innocence is that they must protect the children.
While I will grant that if they did not use such abusive Gestapo like tactics, some children might be harmed or worse. HOWEVER, if this is our reasoning, why not apply this to someone who is accused of murder, as this might prevent future murders, right?
Well the answer might be yes that if anyone who someone accuses of anything is put in jail first before "due process", we might just prevent a lot of crimes.

BUT We are a nation of laws that assume innocence first, I would rather one criminal go free that destroy the life of an innocent man or women and I think our founding fathers agreed!!!!

For Further Reference, please read this article about the Abuse of Power by DHS, CPS, etc and the many comments by those who have been destroyed by these jack booted government thugs:
DHS/ DCS/ CPS/DCFS Abuse of Authority Problems In particular Oregon DHS

Those Who Have Stood By Me and My Family During Difficult Times Has 4 Times Out Of 5 Been Conservative In Their Views.
Even in a recent rude attack noted in the Global Warming section, again a so-called friend who is a liberal also looked the other way.
Simply put, in difficult times such as when dealing with the evil destruction of my family attempt by the Oregon DHS, my wife's postpartum depression, the causes for our sudden move to Oregon, and much more; the persons who have come by my side 4 out of 5 times have been conservative in their view. While those who fled the scene most of the time have been my liberal so-called friends.

Constant Attacks by Democrats that Republicans plan to destroy Medicare and Social Security
This is something I was beginning to take note of way back in the 1980s, as many attacked then President Reagan on this subject, but as a business person, I was well aware of the fact that Reagan actually RAISED these taxes. So while I believed this lie at first, since most of my friends, wife, and business acquittances were liberal Democrats, I finally began to think on my own and realized that the actions told a different story.

From Wikipedia:
"Because in 1983 FICA tax rates were increased from 6.7% to 7% and the ceiling was raised by $2,100. For the self-employed, the FICA tax rate went from 9.35% to 14%.[39] The FICA tax rate increased throughout Reagan's term, and rose to 7.51% in 1988 and the ceiling was raised by 61% through Reagan's two terms. Those tax hikes on wage earners, along with inflation, are the source of the revenue gains of the early 1980s"
Reference: Wikipedia; Reaganomics

The bottom line is yes, many Libertarians that might contribute to Republicans such as the Koch Brothers support some of these extremes, most of even the most conservative Republicans do NOT.

As well, suggesting different methods to make Social Security more solvent for the future such as tying it to the Stock Market in a partial privatization does NOT mean these persons want to end these programs.
Respectful persons can agree to disagree on such ideas (which I also do not agree with such ideas), but the disrespectful lies of taking such ideas and then saying these persons mean to end/destroy Social Security is NOT OK and when it comes from Christians, this is a reason it took even longer for me to finally become a Christian as such lies were often put forth by my liberal Christian friends back then as well!!

Government Service & Regulation in General
While there are plenty of decent persons both of liberal and conservative persuasion employed government services, my dealings from the USPS, CPS/DHS, and local City Government has shown me over the years how government often cannot do anything right or even honestly.

As of 2016, we no longer can sell several aquarium plant products that were good sellers worldwide, due to misapplied Oregon agricultural regulations.
I could also go on about how the new minimum wage mandates cannot be passed on in my international based Internet business, all the while I make less than current minimum wages and cannot get the Oregon Trail Card or unemployment should my business fail; who is looking out for me when they claim to care or others yet vote for those who would put me out of business????

The corruption right here in Grants Pass City service via their building and planning department is a glaring example of government out of control.
Being forced to move my Internet based business out of an garage/shed under dubious accusations of ingress and egress on my private property and then suddenly shifted to the accusation of having a few employees coming and going during the day when in fact we have a Tattoo Parlor and Bookkeeper within a block that have actual traffic generated by their business is dubious at best, corrupt more than likely!
This is what you get when the government has too much control from local to National.

For further information about this incident:
Is Grants Pass Oregon Family Business Friendly

Websites from the Author of this article

I have been working in the business of professional aquarium and pond maintenance and design since 1978.
During this time I have carried out many research project as well, often becoming well known in my field in areas such as Aquarium/Pond UV Sterilization and Aquarium Lighting.
See these two articles:

* Aquarium Lighting

*Aquarium & Pond UV Sterilizer Facts & Information

This includes becoming an expert in aquarium/pond products and what determines whether a product will do the job they were designed for.

Aquarium Sponge Filters
UV Bulbs/Lamps for Aquarium/Pond

A website with regular posts of interesting aquatic news articles: