"44 years a Republican, 1 year an Independent, today I'm joining the Democratic Party"

Chicago, where one man has been brought to a life-changing decision.

By xaxnar  

Friday Jul 14, 2017 · 5:14 PM PDT

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ICYMI, via the Politics section of Chicago Now, Bob Schneider explains why he is becoming a Democrat.

...My Mother's family helped organize the GOP in Illinois.  They were opposed to one human being owning another human being as chattel.  They found slavery morally repugnant and were zealots in advocating its demise. My family has been GOP blue-blood.
That is how far back my roots run in the GOP.  I have no roots in the Democratic Party.  However, it is time for me to lay some down.
There are things I don't like about the Democratic Party.  There are people in the Democratic Party I dislike as much as I dislike Donald Trump.  So, why not remain an independent?  There is a good reason for that.

Schneider lists a number of things that have persuaded him to make this change, some of them related to the Republican party, some to the Democratic Party. They’re worth reading.

Why not try to reform the party from within? Why not choose to be an independent?

I spoke with a relative who is still solid GOP and he acknowledged all my concerns as being factual.  He asked me to stay in the party and fight for its soul.  There is nothing left to fight for.  His comment about a soul was interesting.  That is the problem with the GOP.  It has lost its soul.
It has no compassion, it has no empathy, it is just a collection of self-centered individuals who care about nothing outside of their own lives.  There is not a bigger picture, there is only self-absorption with the GOP.
I'll pass on the GOP.  As far as I am concerned, write its eulogy.

...In America, if you want to bring about change, if you want to be an agent of change and not a voice in the wilderness you must belong to one of one of the two political parties...

 Schneider is not expecting to be welcomed into the Democratic Party with open arms, or find everything to his liking, but he sees no realistic alternative. 

Read the whole thing. It’s not all about Trump — he’s looking at a larger picture. You may not agree with everything Schneider has to say, but he offers a perspective you only get from someone crossing over from the other side. 

UPDATE: Several people in comments have noted that Schneider has a follow up: I've been a Democrat for 72 hours, so far so good.

My welcome to the Democratic Party has been warm and kind.  I have heard from some highly placed Democrats in Washington.  Their reaction has been, "It's about time."
No, it is not about time.  It was past due.

Further Update: A number of commenters have taken issue with the poll answer which states “We have much to learn from each other”. Some take this as a call to move more to the right, and they reject it. That was not my intent. (...he offers a perspective you only get from someone crossing over from the other side) As I replied to this comment, 

This isn’t about both-siderism. I framed the question that way because, as I noted, someone coming to the party from outside will see things that are invisible to those who’ve always taken them for granted. Conversely, there are things you can’t know until you are on the inside.  That’s what I was referring to. As others have noted, converts are sometimes more faithful to the true meaning of a group because they’ve had to think about it, instead of just accepting group membership.