Discussion On Becoming A Democrat

This thread will be very difficult to articulate but over time I want to explore the subject. First off it is very difficult for me to admit that I have been so wrong about so many issues. Switching parties is not an easy thing.

My first reaction has been to just keep the change to myself and not speak about it. Up to this point only a few friends knew about this change. Telling my democrat friends that I have become a democrat I thought would be harder. I have found that they have not rubbed my past in my face but simply smiled and accepted my choice without incident.

I really don't know what has happen to me but I feel like I have fallen in love. My emotions are all crazy and I feel somehow liberated. Where once the democratic part used to make me upset now the republican party is my source of frustration. I guess I have lost all credibility and I don't even care.

Only time will reveal who I have become. I feel somehow connected to humanity where before I felt elitist. Although I was not aware of feeling elite but it was subtle and beginning to foster a kind of hatred for those less fortunate and underprivileged.

All I know is now I feel I am on the right track and the future seems to be a brighter place. I place where I fit in and have a sense of belonging, a progressive place of brotherhood and real charity from the heart and not forced and coerced by a fear of God.

I haven't considered degrading myself so low as to become a democrat but then I've never been sick enough to be a republican. I'm a liberal.

i can't tell how old you are in your picture, but i can honestly say to you that the current republican party bears absolutely no resemblance to the gop of my youth. when i was growing up in a republican home, and then able to vote at 18, i of course voted republican. even though i was a long haired guitarist in a hard rock band. smoked pot, the whole deal.

so why vote republican? because back then the republican party was the party that was good with money and stayed out of people's personal lives. even after i had moved to california and registered as libertarian, i voted for republicans in nationals.

i haven't been able to say that since the late '80s. now they are neither and only getting worse.

i'm not saying that the democrats are the answer to every question, but they at least seem to favor forward motion as opposed to this ridiculous chasing of the good old days.

So Rex, when did this hit you? This is a pretty dramatic turnaround from right after the election.

Yes I only wish the turn around had happened before the election so i could have voted for Obama. This is a regret I will carry with me.

you'll be happy to know he won

I have allot to rethink dys perhaps we may find some common ground now.

I am glad Obama won and I highly approve of the job he has done so far.

what was the catalyst for this change ?

probably not, I'm just as sleazy as I was this morning.

Agreed... (couldn't resist)

It was a myriad of issues but the clincher was the republicans trying to overturn the gay marriage bill signed into law by our Maine Governor Baldacchi who I used to loath and not trust. Now I support Baldacci and the republicans, well, enough said. If they take away my right to marry in my home state I will never forgive them for it.

I'm a Democrat by label. I left for a bit, when I was more than usually frustrated with the dems, to sign up as independent, then came back. I like to be able to vote in the primary in my state.

I'm really a mix in that I am probably left of most posters on a2k, though not all (waves), but consider myself leftcentrist re the world; have some strains of libertarian in my weaving of ideas. For some of my years, while I was being what we in the US call liberal, I despised the right and had no agreement with, say, marxists, but more sympathy for their views/emotions, more gut understanding, or so I thought. But I do remember Taft Republicans (my mother), and remember amazing scraping of rights by the far left, at the same time multiple execrables by the right. Power does make its own world.
While I remember Taft, he is not me, I'm still a Dem.

Anyway, it's an interesting journey, isn't it, RexRed?

1 I have always hated guns ( they may be necessary but they don't need to be toted with such "pride")
2 I believe in a woman's right to choose if she wants an abortion
3 I'm gay
4 I believe in partial amnesty
5 I am generally against ALL war
6 I am now an agnostic ("god" if there is one... save us from what has been perpetrated in the name of "God/Allah/Jehovah/Krishna etc and even Buddha and the religious books of hell/damnation/judgment/caste etc)
7 I believe humans are having a terrible impact on the earth and causing global warming
8 I believe in alternative forms of renewable energy and less dependence on foreign or domestic oil.
9 Leave ANWAR alone
10 Save the polar bears
11 Sarah Palin scares me (too fundamental christian for my mind to rest easy)
the list goes on and on...

I'm not perfectly happy with Obama, wasn't in the first place. I do like having a mind in the white house.

I think it isn't all that dramatic really. You're just starting to think for yourself. I have no answer for you, really. Just keep your eyes open, check the evidence on all sides of the issues, and follow it wherever it leads. Don't be afraid of where you'll end up. You'll figure things out for yourself.

Rex, I applaud your honesty.

Oh, yikes, I am agreeing with RexRed.

It's happened before, I think we agreed about spinach.

To not kid you, I'll just nod to what Thomas just said. You may go back and forth. Keep thinking.

I am even starting to like granola and, get this... I even like Nancy Pelosi... I am sorry for the hateful threads I started up about Barrack Obama and Michelle Obama... (although i did have trust issues and there were links to corruption but I am willing to give them a chance without prejudgment.)

I still don't like ACORN