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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI would like to welcome myself to DU. Actually, introduce myself...
I have been here since day one, though the first part was under a different incarnation. Doesn't matter, I suppose, as I understand most of it is archived now.
I am a die-hard Democrat. Politics is in my blood. From a baby I was raised on it. John Kennedy's portrait hung in most rooms of our home. Dad took me on his knee and explained everything I wanted to know (Mom said I was the most curious child she ever saw). By the age of 5 I knew all about the the Kennedy assassination, and though I entered Kindergarten in 1970, those events I learned so much about seemed generations back to my 5 year old concept of time.
I watched the Nixon impeachment at age 7 or 8, glued to the tv. I started helping Dad when he would go campaigning for local candidates, and went out many, many times to post yard signs. I attended many rallies, phone banked at a young age, worked on a campaign on my own in high school.
I often wondered if I might have a future in politics someday, as a contribution to our great country. Over the years I continued to ask questions, stay engaged, and take stock of where I thought we were. Although I intended, at least at first, to follow my Dad into the factory, I turned 18 in 1983, at the height of the coming out of the recession, and the factory jobs being sent to other states. Instead (and thankfully) my first real career was in EMS, then simultaneously and later exclusively law enforcement.
I always thought I had a pretty good read on things, being that I had to swear to uphold the constitution. In the 1980's I started to notice a shift. Privatization began to be tossed around in earnest. Being that I worked at that time in administration at a public hospital, I got wind of a few different ideas that were being discussed. It didn't sound too good to me then, and it stinks now.
Whenever I said to Dad "They're gonna try this thing" he would tell me not to worry, he's seen this kind of thing before, and they will never get it done, or they will never win. I hate to say, but Dad was wrong about their tenacity and determination. He escaped with his pension intact, but a lot of guys he worked with were not so lucky. Some took early buy-outs for as little as $5k. Sad.
But anyway, all this stuff I saw coming down the pike has come to pass or is now coming to pass. I feel like this is THE election of my lifetime, not BO1. This is for all the marbles. This is for one or more Supreme Court appointments, which will likely shape who we are as a country for quite some time to come. They know it. They will stop at nothing. Please get out the vote. Vote early. Take your neighbors, take the elderly, take the sick. Volunteer. Do it for John Kennedy, whom lost his life in service to our country. Do it for global warming (which Dad told me was not gonna happen, again at the age of 5, in 1970). Do it for yourselves and your loved ones. Do it for your pocketbook and your retirement.
bigtree
(85,915 posts)Last edited Tue Oct 9, 2012, 01:17 PM - Edit history (1)
. . . sounds remarkably like my own political upbringing and interest.
Welcome to back DU!
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)Raine
(30,540 posts)Glad you're here, the more the merrier!
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I grew up in Michigan. My family is apolitical. But, I would say my mother is mostly conservative and my dad is more liberal or rather they were. I usually sided with my dad. But, being raised in a conservative area with at least one conservative parent had shaped my world view in ways that I was barely aware of. It is probably the main reason I have vacillated between just right of center and just left of center. But, something changed in the last couple of years to knock me out of being a centrist. I don't know what it was, but Bachmann's quip about telling BP to not be chumps and be responsible for cleaning up the oil spill was the thing that made me think that Republicans are clinically insane. I have been watching them intently ever since that. So, it came to my attention that they have been relentless in attacking Obama and many of those attacks struck me as racist. Then they constantly attack gay people (not cool, one of my daughters is gay). Then in one of my college classes we had to do a skit on a current pressing issue, this is when I found out about person hood laws and the defacto way that some states have outlawed abortion, by targeting clinics with weird laws as to how wide the doors have to be among other things. Then there is the all out weirdness of Newt and his moon colony where presumably he will have an army of child slaves. Anyway, I have certainly had my eyes opened up since 2008 and I will probably won't go back to being centrist or moderate and it will take a lot more convincing to get me to think that a war is a good idea.
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)helped shift us to the right. They are, for the most part, gone or at least less influential than they were. Everything that has happened since 2000 is things I never would have imagined in my lifetime. Just unthinkable.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Congrats on being born in 1965, for whatever that is worth. Enjoy your marbles. I think I lost mine....
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)If you've been paying attention, you haven't lost your marbles. It's just that "they" really do believe that they create reality.
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)Good to see you.
GOTV!
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)enthused enough to actually post during elections, especially for POTUS.
Cha
(295,899 posts)always is in this Plutrocracy Attempted Takeover of our Democracy.
Welcome back, silvershadow.
life long demo
(1,113 posts)I grew up in a similar home except mine was a totally Democratic home. My Father was a laborer, and there was only one party for the workingman and that was the Democratic party. I graduated from HS in 1960 and was a follower of John Kennedy. I will go to my grave revering Kennedy the same as working people felt about FDR in the 40's.
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)Seems like everyone gets it. I almost went back for some edits, but I hate that, so it is what it is. Thanks for sharing some about you as well. We had the Kennedy portraits, lots of misc memorabilia, old Look magazines, and Life magazines with the Kennedys as subjects. I used to read them from cover to cover.
macisme
(7 posts)I am also new to DU, posting that is. I have used it for my news and it has always been informative to me. I am for Barack Obama as I am a Democrat and always have been. I love the info I get from everyone. Keep up the good work because you start my day out right!