Somewhat self doxing post. I was born in Washington DC some 75 years ago. My father was a high level bureaucrat when he retired in 1955 after 33+ years working for the Federal Government. Ike Eisenhower had been recently elected and conservatives were finally hopeful that the long liberal years of Roosevelt and Truman had come to an end.
I remember asking my Father if we were Republicans or Democrats and he said something that I didn't really understand until now. "Son, he said, our government is so large it doesn't really matter who gets elected." So who did you vote for? I asked. "I would not have been able to keep my job if I had a voting record" he replied.
Dad died in 1970, and Mom told me he was a life long conservative, but that all the years he worked in government he never voted because he feared retaliation by the party in power at the time.
I went along and lived my life until Donald Trump stepped onto the national political stage. Finally, an outsider, wealthy enough to not be bribed, with no political favors to repay. Donald Trump is probably our one and only chance to save our country. I am dying, (well I guess we all are, but my end will come sooner than yours), I beg you to not let this opportunity slip through your fingers.
I agree with this post on so many levels. My mom worked for the state of Tennessee and it was a highly political atmosphere. In our area we were mostly Republican, but the state capitol was enemy-held territory of the Demwit Party. She had to "go along to get along" and NEVER revealed her voting habits.
I'm also of OP's generation and was ambivalent about politics until Trump came along. For the first time I felt there was a candidate whose presidency could actually mean something other than the status quo and our long, slow descent into a socialist state. I still believe that, to wit: TRUMP 2023.