Where was I when my father became a Republican?

My father just turned 70. He grew up in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia with his blue-collar father, homemaker mother, older brother and younger sister. He dropped out of high school at 14 to join the work force. He was drafted into the army in that convienient time between WWII and Vietnam. Upon his release from the army, he became a blue-collar worker alongside his father, grandfather and his brother. He drove a fork-lift truck and was a upstanding labor union leader. He worshiped at the Irish-Catholic altar of J.F.K. His best friend was a gay man who dabbled in cross-dressing.
Today, he is a staunch Republican. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!? I don't get how you can spend your whole life one way and then switch in a moment. It's only been since W was in office. Is my father really that stupid that he believes that HE is the epotime of fine ruling? He's always trying to pick fights with N and I over politics. The way he looks at me with utter disgust when I talk about being a Democrat makes my stomach turn. I want to scream at him that it's HIS fault I am a Democrat! HE raised me that way. Has he simply blocked out the first 60+ years of his life?
As for my mother, well she's just a lemming. She will believe anything my father shoves down her throat. That is really disappointing. This was the woman who faught for women's rights. The woman who almost got fired for wearing PANTS to work!
I just can't stand it. No wonder I want to go home the instant I set foot in their house. There is no reasoning with them either. They are getting more conservative by the hour. Pretty soon my mom will be wearing high-neck blouses and lecturing me on the unholiness of birth control and The Family Channel while my father polishes his portrait of Pat Robertson. sheesh.