Paul Cobaugh, a military veteran, moved to Texas in 2005. He registered as a Republican because he considers himself a principled conservative in the mold of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
But today, he writes, the Texas Republican Party today is a party of radical extremists who trample on the rights of those who disagree with them.
He writes:
I’m deeply ashamed of the extremists running the TX Republican Party, that control our state, destroy our American/ Texas values and built their 2022 election platform on conspiracy theories and lies. Maybe it’s because I consider myself an, “Eisenhower-Republican” or just for the simple reason that I’ve worked against extremists in combat zones and beyond. There is no difference today between the TX GOP and the Taliban. Yes, please reread and remember that last sentence.
Like most Texans, I’m proud of our state and its accomplishments. Principled conservatives and liberals built much of what we’re proud of. I frankly don’t give a damn if someone is left/ right, Republican/ Democrat or liberal/ conservative. America does better when principled and well-informed “sides” debate issues. When extremism is not only present, but dominates one side, all else fails. For the record, one of my deep, professional specialties is terrorism, extremism and counter-terrorism, that include several combat deployments prior to my retirement.
We see this in TX at every level of state responsibility. I’ve seen the same in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and other less-than-hospitable parts of the world. I refuse to stay silent when extremism rears its evil head here in my home state. The nation I’ve sworn to defend is now threatened by the soul-scorching, extremism of a party with an insatiable appetite for conspiracy theories and fascist ideals. Someone must have the courage to stand up for integrity and truth. I won’t speak for the left’s dysfunction, but I can guarantee that Abbott and his party are NOT the ones to demonstrate moral courage. We all have a citizen’s duty to be well and accurately informed. It was front and center in the minds of our founders….
In plain language, TX, like most of America, the extremists controlling today’s GOP, seek more power for their own personal gain and immorally use an anti-constitutional, social agenda, to achieve it. The opposition has little to no power in TX because they cannot agree on which individual interest has priority, but collectively ignore the big picture that clearly demonstrates the potentially lethal injury, today’s GOP is causing to the soul of our nation and worse, our national values….
The word conservative in TX is a “sacred cow” of sorts. The problem is that the current TX Republican party is now, like the national party, controlled by extremists. They are not, “conservatives.” Principled conservatives have zero voice. America, just like TX 122, is now engaged in an actual war over our unique, lofty and constitutional values versus extremism. That is what’s on the ballot in a few days: Extremism vs. reality
In TX, like most of the nation, GOP candidates run for office on extremist, unconstitutional views, while claiming to be principled, conservative patriots. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Cobaugh lists issues that typify extremism in the GOP. Education is one of them:
Critical Race Theory
i. Yes, I know this because my wife retired from teaching TX public school last year and… I do research for a living. Anyone that can read and that has integrity knows the truth. Still, Dorazio is willing to publicly lie about this, like his other R extremists
ii. I would also like to point out, that in conjunction with this CRT dishonesty that the TX Republican party wants to put religion into public schools. Yes, it’s written into their platform. This violates some of the most basic constitutional principles of our nation and TX.
“31. Prayer, Bible, and Ten Commandments in Schools: We support prayer, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments being returned to our schools, courthouses, and other government buildings”
– TX GOP Platform/ 2022
Pg. 6
iii. The effort by these nuts is in support of vouchers which would allow public funding to pay for charter schools that could indoctrinate TX kids with extreme religious and political views.
iv. The CRT insanity cascaded into the book banning and burning craze. Yes, the same party that has run TX for 27 years exclusively, all of a sudden decided to ban books that they’d already approved, while blaming it on the left who has had very little say in those years.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Exactly, the GOP is the party of lies, conspiracy theories and more outlandish lies ad nauseam. The most recent example being all the lies and cruel jokes made up about Paul Pelosi.
One of the most stupid, idiotic and lame conspiracy theories is about the shattered glass outside of the house. Trump and a host of other right wing dopes claim that since there was glass on the outside and not inside, that proved that there was no break-in and that there was actually a break-out. How does Trump know that there was no glass inside the house? Trump claimed that someone was trying to break out of the house. Too dumb for words. Newsflash to the right wing dolts: when DePape smashed the glass from the outside, glass shattered all over the place, inside, outside and in between. In any case, he detailed how he broke into the house.
LikeLike
Glass is an elastic material so when a window is struck with breaking force, glass shards can actually rebound opposite the direction of the applied force.
What this means is that where the glass ends up (inside or outside) is not a reliable indicator of whether a window was broken from outside or inside.
There are ways of determining that, but I seriously doubt Trump would understand them.
LikeLike
The Broken glass theory:
Who would break the glass to get out when they could simply turn a knob?
LikeLike
I’m a Progressive and I like this guy! Reason in a sea of madness in Texas. I can only hope more Conservatives will come forward to the truth of what the Republican Party has become.
LikeLike
I hope enough Texans show up and vote for Beto for governor. If given the chance, he could do great things for the state and work with people from both parties for the benefit of all the people. Texas needs to break free from the extremist conservative leadership in the state.
LikeLike
The one thing that it is clear these people gained from the pandemic was “CARDBOARD CUTOUTS” attending events. They are cardboard cutouts to vote when and what they are told to vote and when to be silent.
They won’t debate, they don’t do interviews, and re-tweet what the emperor states. They don’t care how extreme it is or how much angry rhetoric, rifle-carrying poll observer, waiting to be turned loose to attacks they are being set up for.
The people we hear from on all platforms claiming to be “Republicans” are not Republicans. They are slogan-driven, mean people. They want attention, ire, and audience appreciation with instant gratification – and getting elected. And, they have no interest in governing.
They don’t want to read, listen, work, study, represent their party and definitely do not represent ALL the people in their districts or states.
If they take all three branches and governor’s continue to spew the rhetoric with their “state militia” – it’s 1933 all over again.
LikeLike
He’s the kind of Republican I remember.
LikeLike
“The CRT insanity cascaded into the book banning and burning craze. Yes, the same party that has run TX for 27 years exclusively, all of a sudden decided to ban books that they’d already approved, …”
The GOP is running against itself this cycle. On a personal level, voters I have met are vocal against former heroes, rejecting Bush II, rejecting Bob Corker, the list goes on.
LikeLike