I have often voted Republican in my life; the Republican Party has always had policies and positions I could support, and when it came down it, the party put the country first.

That is no longer true, that party has become the Party Of Hate And Division, and I can no longer support them. My politics are compassion, empathy, freedom, and decency.

They have become frightening, the most severe threat to our democracy since the Civil War, and perhaps even more dangerous in the long run. For some time, we have been battered by news of hatred and bitter arguments, mindless culture wars and assaults on education, fair elections, and a suicidal denial of climate change.

But I am happy to tell you that I  believe that things are changing. As menacing as the Republican party has become, I’ve felt for weeks that there is reason to hope. This new iteration of the party, led by Donald Trump, is now making the same mistake he made in 2020, and it will cost them this year.

Today, I am seeing real evidence that this change is happening.

To mark the return of Hope, I brought a freedom bouquet over to a migrant farm family living in a battered old trailer five or six miles from our farm. I just dropped the flowers on the stairs, waved, and left.

The door opened, and a woman waved back. This is the third week I’ve delivered flowers. I’ve yet to speak to the residents. I know they are wary of strangers.

Americans do value their freedom as much as money, and I can almost feel the winds changing.

The Democratic Party, which has seemed impotent and bewildered by the aggressive and unrelentingly hostile opposition, appears to be waking up at long last. My favorite and most respected polling company, FiveThirtyEight, is reporting a significant movement away from hatred towards Democratic political candidates.

It isn’t the party that matters to me; the preservation of our democracy is at stake.

For months, Five Thirty-Eight has rated the Senate as a “tossup” in the coming elections. They report a “consistent” movement towards Democrats since Roe v.Wade.

They now put the chances of Democrats keeping control of the Senate at 55 percent, despite the Ukraine war, the inflationary,  and pandemic woes ravaging the economy.

This is up from 47 percent in a June 30 forecast and 40 percent in a retroactive forecast dated back to June l. The movement toward Democrats, says Five Thirty-Eight, is steady.

It’s looking like the Roe V. Wade decision, which most Republicans cheered, is shaping up as a disaster for them. (Marjorie Taylor Green is not the future of American politics. Middle-class suburban and African-American women are.)

So are the assortment of election deniers, bigots, thieve, sexual predators,  and unqualified idiots Trump has endorsed to run for state and local offices. Most of them – Jefferson’s nightmares, all –  are losing.

As I’ve written a dozen times, suburban women are the most critical segment of the population in political terms. For years, they’ve been shifting back and forth between parties.

They are shifting again; they are deeply upset by the complete obliteration of abortion rights in half the country. They are not accepting that white  Christian men and women can ram their faith down everyone’s throats and control their bodies.

Overreach is the Achilles’ Heel of political extremists and their white nationalist supporters, and overreach is Donald Trump’s middle name.

There is another reason for this shift, says the polling company.

Congress has awakened and become suddenly and surprisingly effective, with bipartisan legislation on gun safety, semiconductor manufacturing, a possible breakthrough on Democratic spending, and a climate bill. There is also a movement to codify same-sex marriage and protect how presidential elections are certified.

The Jan. 6 hearings have drawn substantial audiences; 79 percent of Americans now say Donald Trump acted unethically or illegally in a new CNN poll. And several federal investigations are suggesting that if Trump runs for President, as he says he will, he will be under indictment for working to overthrow a legitimate federal election. That could hardly be better news for the Democratic party and people who oppose hatred and tyranny and support freedom.

There are long, complex, possibly even bloody struggles ahead. Lots of reasons to be nervous. But also, many reasons to feel hope.

But my politics are Hope, decency, and compassion, and for now, the Republican Party does not offer us any of those. More and more people are awakening to the danger our democracy is in and thus our freedom.

I am a child of refugees, and the farm workers symbolize freedom. I’ll keep the freedom bouquets coming.

I vote for hope, and more and more, I feel there are several reasons to have some.