Judge James R. DePiazza

It was 21 years ago around this time that I made my official announcement to run for JP2. Many changes in the political sphere have happened, but my values, mores and ethics have not. As I prepare to end my time as an elected official, I have come to a cross-road and am forced to make a tough decision. I have witnessed our Country fall further into division, and I truly believe a divided country cannot stand. This division has become more than just Republican-Democrat, Left-Right, Conservative-Liberal divisions, it has infiltrated into the Republican party itself. All of it, in my opinion, is rooted in evil, an evil that has not just become pervasive in our county, but our state, country, and the world. I have chosen to distance myself from it all.

The Republican party in Texas has given me some awful choices to vote for, but the choice of voting for a Republican candidate that doesn’t share all of my values is easier than the progressive ideology that is pervasive in the Democrat party platform, where its candidates hold, pretty much, none of my values. The system is broken and it is the system that needs to be fixed. We need to get rid of the two-party system so that independent voters don’t have to choose between two extremes. My solution would be to run our elections in the manner that our local elections are run…All candidates are in one primary election that the entire electorate gets to participate in, with the two leading vote-getters facing off in the general election. Fair and simple!

You leaders of the factions in the Republican Party need to stop. You don’t understand the pressures you put on elected officials and candidates when you force us to choose a faction. You are creating a divide in the party that, if it continues, there will be as much division within the party as there is between the two major parties...we may already be there! I am not going to go further, in this post, on how it affected me, but seeing the direction the Republican party is going, I have a hard time being associated with it. There are many good people in the party that I consider dear friends, and hope to continue those friendships, yet I cannot continue to see myself support the rhetoric that exists within its culture.

I am officially announcing that I no longer consider myself a Republican, I am an independent-minded constitutional American who will no longer support ideologies and positions that are in contrast with my values, mores, and ethics. I am America First and if we don’t start focusing on our own problems, I do not believe we will have a country left to defend. This is the fault of both Republicans and Democrats, so stop pointing fingers! In the spirit of Ronald Reagan, “I am not leaving the Republican Party, the party left me." The main reason for this decision is the fact the Republican Party claims to be pro-life, yet supports the genocide that went on in Gaza and continues in Lebanon. Now the IDF has moved onto attacks on Catholics and other Christian communities in those regions, yet there is only silence from Republican leaders and continued support for what the Nation of Isreal is doing. That was the breaking point for me. I no longer want to be associated with an organization that supports such evil. I no longer see the Republican Party as pro-life. At best, it is anti-abortion, which is an admirable quality, but anti-abortion and pro-life are two different ideologies. Second, I cannot vote for all the Republican candidates the party has given me to choose from. Character and integrity matter the most to me and there is one office that the Democrat candidate has shown more of those traits than the Republican candidate. Hence, that is why I am now an Independent.

My hands are tied right now due to being a judicial officer, but come January 1, 2027, my voice will not be silenced any longer. Hard decisions need to be made by the American people, which the Republican and Democrat Parties have both shown that they do not have the capacity to fix the brokenness they have both created. Stay tuned…

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When I was at UNT working on my counseling degree, we had to take a diversity class. The professor taught us that in order for diversity to be honored, we needed to think of our society as a salad bowl, not a melting pot. My parents were visiting at the time and I shared that thought with my dad who said, "Yeah, but over time, salad rots."

What the "salad bowl" ideology misses is that the "melting pot" idea brings all together and creates unity, not a bunch of different pieces, but a united culture..."From the many, ONE."

As we approach the 250th anniversary of our country and it's independence, just maybe it is time to focus on unity and not constant division. United we stand, divided we fall. Right now we are falling so hard that the fabric of our society is quickly ripping apart. We need to become that melting pot again that creates steel unity. Unity that is only possible when we again become "One Nation Under God."

E Pluribus Unum

Denton County offices will re-open today at 10:00 am.

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Denton County offices will be closed again on Wednesday, January 28th. If you had a hearing scheduled, you will be sent a reset notice. If you have questions, call the court on Thursday. Please be patient if you have to leave a message. A clerk will return your call as soon as possible.