Congratulations to a man of courage and conviction

"I will not stand silent if the party of Lincoln and the end of slavery buckles under the racial bias of a bigot," says Iowa State Sen. David Johnson, an 18-year veteran of our legislature. Sen. Johnson has announced that, like me, he has changed his registration from "Republican" to "no party."

I encourage others to do the same. In becoming the party of Trump, the GOP has ceased to be the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and Ike and Reagan.

Now if only some prominent Republican could summon the courage to stand up and run as an independent so I could have someone to vote for. After all, it's not as if Lindsey Graham (who today urged Republicans to unendorse Trump over the presumptive nominee's bigoted remarks about the judge trying the lawsuit against him concerning his fraudulent "Trump University") has anything to lose at this point. Neither does Mitt Romney. Neither does Jeb Bush. 

This is a time for character. This is a time for courage. This is a time to fight for the heritage Donald Trump has disgraced.

"He  (Trump) simply cannot unify the GOP. If there is a profound split, I’ll gladly re-join Republicans who are dedicated to equality and justice for all, and let Mr. Trump lead his supporters over the cliff,” says Sen. Johnson, who represents Herbert Hoover's home town of West Branch

I concur. Hillary is no excuse for supporting a racist.