I cast my very first vote in a presidential election in 1980. I was 20 and voted for Ronald Reagan with a heady mixture of zeal, pride and anti-Carter-malaise-dispelling bravado. My only regret was that I could vote only once. So I voted hard to compensate.

The bundle of passions and convictions that made me a loyal, activist Republican 27 years ago:

• National Security (countering the Brezhnev Doctrine of Soviet/socialist expansion in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Angola, etc.) 
• Respect for Human Life (recognizing the Roe v. Wade was a travesty and a tragedy.)
• Resistance to Bloated Government & Statist Social Engineering
• Tough Law Enforcement and Respect for the Rule of Law

. . .these kept me voting for, working for and donating to Republican candidates in the intervening years. Though some of the threats have changed names (goodbye Soviet Union, hello militant Islam), they are still pretty much the ones that animate me today.

But on most of the above issues, large segments of the Republican leadership have either abandoned the field to the statists, the multilaterialists, and the appeasers; or have actually joined them.

Today I find myself questioning whether or not I am still a Republican.

On this sad day a Republican President and significant numbers of Republican Senators sold out their country and conservative principles and then tried to pretend the opposite was actually the case. This so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform compromise may be the last straw for me. 

I need to sleep on it but I’m so angry right now I could leave a voicemail for Lindsey Graham and John McCain that would make Alec Baldwin’s ballisto-rant on his daughter seem like a Precious Moments greeting card.  

I haven’t left the party. But it does appear the party has ditched me.