Regrettably, many lifelong Republicans, like myself, have watched the GOP slow walk into an unrecognizable shadow of its former self. I hoped this day would never come, but with the recent endorsement of Donald Trump by the Colorado GOP, I will be changing my voter registration to independent.

I was stunned that this decision occurred on Jan. 14, in advance of the New Hampshire primary, and well before the upcoming Colorado Primary and caucuses on March 5. That the state party would pre-empt decision-making by its own electorate and endorse any candidate before its own primary is unconscionable.

But that’s not the only reason for my decision. The wholesale abandonment by the local, state and national GOP of conservatism, in general, has reached a point of no return. Gone are traditional mainstays of fiscal responsibility, moral leadership and limiting government’s reach.

In its place, the GOP pursues unbridled spending, excuses shameful and illegal behavior, and welcomes the rise of executive power, unchecked by the judicial and legislative restraints mandated by our Constitution. Additionally, promoting the idea that absolute presidential immunity is even possible must have the framers of the Constitution turning in their graves.

I hope changing my voter registration sends the GOP a message. There is a long list of political parties in America’s past – the Whigs, No Nothings, Free Soil, Dixiecrats, America First – whose shrinking bases doomed their futures.

Truly, it pains me to say our GOP is headed in the same direction.

Michael Brennan

Durango