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This is the first campaign I have ever donated more than $10 to. This is the first campaign that I have made phone calls for. This is the first campaign that I have taken vacation to work on November 3rd and 4th. And all of this is because of Barack Obama! He is the real deal and I KNOW he loves this country and the people in this country more than any Republican. I honestly love the guy. As much as you can love someone without really knowing them personally. I believe in him and know this country needs him. Badly!
I also love the DU. I am so glad I found this place. And for my 1000th post I thought I would spew out everything I have been thinking about since I joined. Thanks for putting up with it!
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“Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.”
John F. Kennedy
I am ashamed to say, I voted for Reagan in 1980. I was in my second year of college and I was young and totally uninformed about politics and democracy. But I thought I knew everything.
My dad, a union plumber his whole life, was very disappointed in me. I thought he did not get it and was not as smart as I was. How could he support Jimmy Carter when the economy was in such bad shape? I thought my dad was not thinking correctly.
Four years later, I voted for Walter Mondale. I had graduated and spent the previous year telling my dad he was right and I was a fool four years earlier. When Ronald Reagan said “If you’ve seen one Redwood tree you have seen them all” I knew he was clueless. I also saw the deficit and the lack of worry in the nation about it. During those four years I became a democratic and it has not changed since then.
I honestly know that the average Democratic candidate cares more about the average American than the any Republican candidate. Most of the Republicans I know worry about one issue…..their pocketbook! They are forever in “trickle down” mode and “preventing redistribution of wealth” mode. They label the Democrats as “tax and spend liberals”. They only worry about their taxes being lower and putting more money in their own pockets. And they think it will somehow “trickle” down to the average American. That is their method of helping the little guy. And that is how they justify not giving a crap about people not as “lucky” as they are!
And “lucky” is what it is. I am lucky that I was born to good parents who wanted me to do well in school and wanted me to get a higher education, even though they had not. And I am not arrogant enough now to think that I was special and better than other people and that is why I am better off now than they are. I realize that I was just lucky to be born into the family I was born in to. And I know other people in this country were not as lucky as me and that bad breaks or bad parents or bad neighborhoods can put them in a situation where they need some help. And I think those of us who got lucky deserve to help those who did not. I don’t want socialism but I do want to help people help themselves get out of a bad situation. Some people make bad choices continually and maybe lose their chance at getting extra choices. But I know that having a country full of people who have everything and others who have nothing does not make for a great country.
The republicans run on fiscal responsibility and are the most clueless people in the world about it. They have never met a deficit they didn’t like. I cannot believe how many people tell me that they are republicans because of the economy. When I bring up Reagan and the deficit they say it does not matter. When I bring up the Clinton years they say it was because of daddy Bush or that Clinton got “lucky”. LOL….it is almost beyond belief the excuses they make up to try to say they are “fiscally responsible”!
The republicans I know love tax cuts, but worry none about the deficits. They believe the damn lines about the GNP and percentages of the deficit. I honestly think you could win an election in this country by saying you would cut taxes in half! The GOP people I know would be totally fine with that because they only worry about the money in their pocket NOW and nothing about paying off the deficits in the future. The GOP candidates always use the “it’s your money” line and the GOP supporters cheer like idiots. Well, it is not your money!! The government that you elected is spending that money on roads and bombs and other stuff you want. It is no more your money than your mortgage payment you make is your money. You owe that money for goods and services that the government needs. The families in this country need to balance their budget but no one in the GOP thinks that the government needs to do the same. The GOP is not fiscally responsible.
And the fact that so many voters in this country, who the GOP does not give a damn about, continue to vote for them is amazing. Two of these groups are the religious right and the gun owners.
It amazes me how the GOP has kept the abortion and gay marriage issue in the forefront. So many religious people vote based on abortion ONLY! And yet, after 6 years with control of the House, Senate and the White house the GOP DID NOTHING to outlaw abortion or gay marriage. And that is because if they outlaw abortion and gay marriage they cannot run on it when the next election comes around!! So it is the carrot on the stick that keeps on giving. And the religious voters are too dumb to see what they are doing. But they continue to vote for a party who does not give a damn about the neediest people in the country. I have always said the GOP might as well say “You can’t have an abortion, but if you have the child don’t expect us to help support it’! And yet the religious right still support them because of religion.
And some gun owners, who love hunting and love the environment and I assume a lot of them are working class people who the democrats care more about than the GOP does, are convinced the democrats will take their guns away. This is not true and has never been true. But the NRA associates being against cop killer bullets and automatic machine guns on the streets to wanting to take your guns away. And they have convinced the GOP to support every removal of every gun law and have spent millions every election supporting the GOP. And the gun owners believe the fear and not the truth.
The main reason that I am proud to be a democrat is because I honestly believe that the democrats I know THINK! They don’t need Limbaugh or O’Reilly to reinforce their beliefs. Conservative radio is so popular because they need that daily reinforcement. The democrats I know make their own decisions. I honestly think the average democrat spends 100 times more time thinking about the issues in this country than the average republican.
I could go on forever but I have already gone on too long! I get so frustrated at times talking to GOP supporters and realizing they don’t get it and never will. But that is no reason to quit fighting! We have to keep fighting to oppose the GOP, because we are the ones who really care about this country.
When I get frustrated I think about Galileo. He KNEW that the earth orbited around the sun but was still locked up under house arrest because the church said he was wrong. And I imagine him sitting at home saying “I am surrounded by idiots”. He had to be one of the most frustrated people ever. I know I have felt like I am surrounded by idiots when I try to argue with GOP supporters. But if Galileo didn’t give, up neither can we. We democrats are surrounded by idiots, but they can learn. I am sure of it!
“I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world, not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well. And I look forward to a world which will be safe not only for democracy and diversity but also for personal distinction”
John F. Kennedy
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