In case you did not figure it out, I was a diehard Republican, I have served on a number of campaigns including Governor Palin’s VP campaign, Governor Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign and Donald Trump’s Florida campaign. However, I am done calling myself a member of the GOP.

I left the Republican party because it no longer represents my principles and values. I am a limited government conservative, yet Republicans today like big government, as long as they are in charge of it. I also don't tolerate bigotry of any kind, and today's party does. While most Republicans I've known over the years aren't bigots, they tolerate and kowtow to the few who are. The wrong voices have dominated policy debates.

I believe we need common sense gun regulations that will help protect children and adults from deranged gunmen. I believe we have an obligation to make the United States a better place for all Americans. I have always enjoyed being in the party of giants like Roscoe Conkling, Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert A. Taft, Thomas E. Dewey, Joe McCarthy, Henry Cabot Lodge and his brother Governor John Davis Lodge, Everett Dirksen, Caleb Boggs, John Williams, Homer Capehart, Bill Jenner, Nelson Rockefeller, George Murphy, Barry Goldwater, Walter Judd, Bill Scranton, Strom Thurmond, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, Tom Kean and Hamilton Fish Sr.

Sadly, Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan wouldn’t recognize today’s Republican Party. The GOP went from being a Main Street party under Ronald Reagan to being the Wall Street Party again under both Bushes. Bush 41 broke his “no new taxes” pledge, and President George W. Bush’s new entitlement programs and reckless spending made us the party of big spending and big government.

Meanwhile, social conservatives in the party demand litmus tests on issues like abortion and gay marriage equality from those who share their conservative economic and foreign policy views, making a cohesive coalition of social and economic conservatives ultimately impossible. Barry Goldwater himself, Mr. Conservative, decried the religious right in the party before his death.

Sadly, the difference between the two major parties has become rhetorical. Under the Democrats, you’re going to hell. Under the Republicans, you are still going to hell, but you are going more slowly. To real conservatives, the freedom of the individual is paramount. No one should be able to tell you what you can eat, drink, smoke or marry, or what kind of gun you can own. We don’t want to be snooped on by an all-knowing big brother government. That is the essence of liberty. The Republican Party has become both a party of big government and also an authoritarian party that would tell us how to live.

The Libertarian Party stands for both economic and personal freedom. Libertarians oppose spending, debt, taxes, big government and costly foreign wars where our national interests are not clear. We support a woman’s right to choose an abortion, gay marriage equality and the legalization of marijuana.