WHY I MAY VOTE REPUBLICAN, VOL. 17: Longtime BC readers know I've been lamenting the sorry state of what was "my" Democratic Party and even threatening to vote Republican for the first time ever. Why the shift? Some think it's because I'm a papa now. I don't think that's the reason, but I'll be the first to admit that fatherhood seems to be making all manner of invisible, subcutaneous transformations on your humble correspondent.

I've had a difficult time articulating my change of political heart/head, but leave it to Andrew Sullivan to do it for me, via an e-mail from one of his readers. An excerpt:

I consider myself in many ways a "September 11th Republican." That is, before September 11th, I was a passionate Democrat. I voted for Clinton twice, campaigned on behalf of Al Gore (despite the fact that the man had no personal charisma). And in my heart, I guess I sort of want to be a Democrat, primarily because all of my friends are, and I want them to like me. And I want to think of myself as a caring humanitarian (which embodies liberalism at its best) rather than a calculated realist. But I can't. Not after September 11th. Not with the raving lunacy that has captured the Democratic party. Not when National Security is considered dispensable, if considered at all. Not when the Democrats fault George Bush for creating French obstruction. Not when the Democrats secretly applaud American deaths because it proves George Bush is "wrong."

I would also add that, for me, conservatism is beginning to seem like a more viable and honest vehicle for compassion than liberalism. More on that another time.