I would like to welcome myself to DU. Actually, introduce myself... [View all]

[silvershadow]

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.