So my Republican Dad says, "Half the country is on some government entitlement program...."

[Igel]

45. My mother was a loyal Democrat her entire life.

Rabid, even.

Racist to the core, but that happens.

If there was some sort of public benefit, some progressive law, she was for it. (ERA? Sure. Roe v Wade? Absolutely. Civil Rights? You bet. Well, to the extent it helped women.)

In every case she empathized with those who would get them because she could see herself in those situations because she was crucially like them. Had been a single mother, had been poor, was a woman, had been discriminated against because of her biology. In many cases, she would benefit directly from them.

She had little use for the GI Bill because it didn't help women like her. She saw no point in the space program because it didn't help women like her. Foreign aid was evil because it took money away from programs that helped women like her.

My mother was one of the most intensely self-centered, selfish people I've ever known. Her politics were all about her. She only abandoned her racism--in part--when Obama was nominated. She got over Hillary. The reason she decided that Obama, that (expletive deleted) was okay was that he would make sure that people got help--people like her. Unlike McCain, who'd cut her Medicaid, Medicare, etc., etc.