Oct 31 is my 21st DU Anniversary. Here's what was going on when I joined. (x-post from yesterday)
For the past few months in 2002, the drums of war were beating. VP Cheney remarked about Saddam Hussein having WMDs. Condi Rice warned of a mushroom cloud over the US because of Iraq. Senator Wellstone tragically had just died in a plane crash. Important mid-terms were a week away, though we would not do as well as we hoped because of 9/11 fever. Three weeks earlier (Oct 10), Congress authorized war against Iraq. Only 23 Senators (including 1 Republican) and 133 Representatives (including 6 Republicans) voted against it because it was obvious and provable that Saddam had NO WMDs. Anyone paying attention knew this. (McClatchey articles were top-notch at the time and the only news outlet publishing the unvarnished truth.) But many Democrats voted to pass the bill, including Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Without their votes, there would have been no Iraq War. I vowed then I would never vote for Clinton or Biden unless I had no choice. I kept that promise until I voted for Biden as VP under Obama in 2008 (so I could vote for Obama) and for Clinton as President in 2016 (not in the Primary though). Hillary's vote that month haunted her for the rest of her political life. It haunted Joe, too, but he was not a front-runner for higher office (except VP, which is different) for almost 20 years and, as with Hillary in 2016, the threat of Trump overrode everything else. It seems hard to understand now, since Hillary is such an outstanding politician, but for years we had other viable options to support and the Iraq War was such a colossal mistake it seemed unbelievable she or Biden or any other Dem would support W's war.
I was very worried and afraid my boyfriend at the time was going to be drafted. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Americans were still reeling from 9/11 and the Repubs were high on their cancel culture (Phil Donahue, Bill Maher, Dixie Chicks, and many more. (Don't let today's GQP make you think Dems created "cancel culture". They've been doing it for decades at least.) Bush "W", whose approval was artificially high from 9/11, had taken his eyes off the ball to avenge his daddy and let bin Laden slip through his fingers in Afghanistan.
I was teaching music in college and running a Summer Choral Music Festival in Hawaii that changed the mold of Choral Music Festivals since that time. My computer, which I built, ran Windows XP and no one knew smartphones would change the way we live and think. Two African American actors won the top acting Oscars for the first time: Denzel Washington and Halle Barry.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. And on Halloween, I found Democratic Underground. I registered as Keopeli and I've been here every day for 21 years. I wonder what I will say after 42 years in 2045? I hope I'll be alive, but if I am, I know I'll start that day reading and chatting with my compatriots on DU. Thank you, fellow DUers! And thank you, EarlG, Elad, and Skinner. You changed my life for the better.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...back when we thought nothing could be worse than W... 
Aloha. I live in Hawaii, too, on the Big Island.
Everything you wrote about I remember. I had only been in the U.S. with my children for two years after arriving from Canada. I was adjusting to the American political scene, though Canada (at least where I lived) carried American news channels like CNN. I watched on occasion.
It seems B.S. and fear tactics are major drivers here, Apparently, Americans enjoy feeling insecure, or at least are used to it.
I sure wish there was more accountability.
Nice meeting you!
I love the Big Island! Yes, we Americans feed on fear and loathing. My Canadian friends were complaining about their healthcare system. I explained just a bit about what we go through and they were shocked. "Wow! I guess we have it better than I thought."
Always wonderful to meet new friends, particularly from the islands!
Mahalo, pandr32!
