How many people here on DU were once rethugs/conservatives?

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89. Pro-UNION FDR Democrat since birth.

A portrait of FDR hung in my parent's house, and from my earliest days I was told that I owed my good life to him.
My parents drilled into me that the Republicans were the Party of MILLIONAIRES (1950 dollars) and BIG Corporations,
and anybody who Worked for a Living and voted for the Republicans was an idiot.

The portrait of FDR was joined by a portrait of JFK after his assassination.

THESE are the traditional Democratic party Values with which I was raised:

"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens." --- FDR. 1944 State of the Union Address

Please notice that FDR claimed the above as RIGHTS to be protected by our government for ALL citizens,
and NOT commodities to be sold to Americans by For Profit Corporations.

I haven't changed.
I still honor and fight for these traditional Democratic Party Values.
I have stayed true to the Democratic Party.
Sadly, today's Centrist "New Democrat" Party has not stayed true to me,
to FDR,
or to its Working Class base.


I can understand how many conservatives and former Republicans can feel very comfortable
in today's New Democrat Party.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
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