Why I am a liberal 10,000th post!!!
Last edited Mon Feb 11, 2019, 11:51 PM - Edit history (1)
For my 10,000th post please indulge me in a bit of personal rambling....
I was born in Germany 12 years after the carpet bombing of my home town Frankfurt. Everywhere I went, I saw the traces and direct signs of destruction...It was hard not to be anti-war
Because of the unsanitary conditions at the time, as an infant I contracted a case of encephalitis, was in the hospital for six months and my parents recieved a bill for the equivilant of 17.46 (1957 dollars)
It is hard not to be for single payer universal health care which liberals support.
My mother had her left leg amputated along with the toes or her right foot, seeing her struggle and her pain (a direct result of WWII), it is hard not to be anti-war
At 7 a week before Christmas my father died as a result of wounds sustained in the Vietnam War,
it is hard not to be anti-war
Finally emigrating to the US we lived in our first family home and at 15 I achieved my US citizenship, I have always felt like a guest in the US but increasingly the Democratic Party and the liberal wing has been the one to embrace multi-culturalism and open doors and that to me affirms my worth and possibilites as fough for by the liberals.
I know some don't like organized religion, but because of my Catholic education both religion and history classes were infused with a great deal of peace and justice education...it helped form my liberal thinking.
I grew up eating dinner while watching the news during the 1960's when the liberalism was in it's ascendancy...the images of war and civil unrest seared my mind with the contrast of what was written in the textbooks and it was hard not be a liberal.
I grew older and understood more of politics and right at the threshold of being an adult (16), my mother died and I became a war orphan..I was given a great set of foster parents and government help to go through college and really began to understand the importance of a safety net not only in a deeply personal way, but in the greater context of the solciological good and it was hard not to supress my affinity with those who are liberal.
In 1988 I protested the appearance of George Bush Sr. in Tacoma, WA...I was beat up, spit upon and threatened (illegally) with deportation and once again my heart sang with those who are for civil liberties.
I was blest enough to be able to run for US Congress from the left...while we did not win, we provided a major impact on making this town more liberal and also moved our DINO Rep. to stop voting funding for the SOA... in many other nations being a lower middle class immigrant, that door would have been closed to me. Once again it's hard not being a liberal.
In the 1990's I got cancer and we had no health insurance, the bill came to $168,000.00 and we lost all we had and so once again I am a liberal because I see first hand the need for a single payer system.
I'm middle aged now and through many experiences have seen the need for social justice, rights of bargaining a realistic safety net, and universal health care. And who has been there: the LIBERALS. I thank God I am a liberal and wouldn't want it anyother way and I think DU for giving me a vehicle to express that!!!
Sorry for the length, Peace to my brothers and Sisters at DU!!!
= new reply since forum marked as read
And congratulations on your *1000* posts!
And your post is not too long!
I think it's fascinating to see how you arrived at being a liberal...
May you have many more years on this great trip!
You said this was your 100th post - not once but twice - WHY
I see you made the correction - again great post!!!
