I used to be a registered Republican. While I rarely voted a straight party ticket, my political beliefs aligned more with the Republicans than the Democrats.

But that was when Republicans were more into fiscal responsibility and less into culture wars.

As President Trump and the MAGA movement rose into power, I became more and more disillusioned with the Republican Party. I no longer wanted to be associated with what the Republicans were selling, and I changed my registration to non-affiliated.

During the early days of my Republican Party disillusionment, I had the pleasure of joining Brett Lindstrom for breakfast. He was running for the Republican nomination for governor, and I asked him why he was proud to be a member of that party.

He responded that he supported their views on fiscal policies. I pointed out that under Trump, the deficit had increased by trillions of dollars. The deficit has increased under every Republican president in recent history. I pointed out that while Republicans might talk a good game when it comes to balanced budgets, their actions spoke otherwise.

He saw my point.

I don’t recall many specific details about the rest of our conversation, but I do remember feeling good about it. Brett wasn’t all tied up in culture wars. He knew that in order to get things done, you had to work with everyone. We didn’t agree on everything, but the conversation was civil and intelligent.

I switched my party affiliation for a moment from non-affiliated to Republican just so I could vote for Brett in the primary.

He lost that race but decided to run for office again for the Second District’s Congressional seat.

I went to the kickoff event where Brett announced he was running to take Don Bacon’s place in Congress. Now I’ll admit I feel a little uncomfortable being in a room filled with just Republicans these days. I no longer feel like I belong there, but most everyone there was pleasant.

I listened as Brett gave his speech. It seemed much different than the Brett I met years before. He was no longer the Ronald Reagan-style Republican I had breakfast with, but a more MAGA Republican. I guess he had to try to appeal to those folks since they are the ones more likely to vote in a primary.

Following him on social media, I saw a definite change. He was really trying to appeal to the far-right fringe of the Republican party and not the version I had believed him to be.

After posting a pro-Trump meme on his page one day, I responded by saying that I missed the old Brett.

Maybe Brett missed the old Brett too, because shortly after dropping out of the race for Congress, he changed his party affiliation from Republican to non-affiliated.

Welcome to the club Brett.

Nebraska is a red state that’s been run by Republicans for decades, but according to a recent University of Nebraska survey, only 41% of the population believes that the state is going in the right direction.

More and more Republicans don’t believe their party is going in the right direction either. Which is why people like Brett Lindstrom and I have left the party and registered as non-affiliated.

Brett says he is lying low and staying out of politics.

I hope that’s not true. Brett could take a page out of Dan Osborn’s playbook and run for governor as an independent.

Winning a race as an independent was almost unheard of just a few years ago, but with so many people disillusioned with both parties, it no longer seems impossible. Dan Osborn gave Deb Fischer a run for her money two years ago, and the polls show him neck and neck with Pete Ricketts in his bid for the Senate this go-round.

Osborn is such a threat that our Senator is already running ads trying to improve his image. They’ve put a conservative ally of Senator Ricketts on the Democratic Party primary ticket to try to split the anti-Ricketts vote in the general.

Likewise, Jim Pillen knows he’s in trouble as well. Otherwise, why would he be running TV ads so far out from November?

Lynn Walz is a viable Democratic candidate, but it sure would be nice if Brett Lindstrom got on the ballot. A Republican like him can’t win in the primary under these current political conditions, but a former Republican like him could possibly win in the general election.

It’s time to make the Republican Party Republican again. Maybe a former Republican might be just the person to do it.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.