So I guess there was this diary posted yesterday about why we're Democrats.
I call on all Kossacks to submit at least one diary in the next few weeks, speaking about what the Democratic Party has meant, and means, to them. Speak of your very first introduction to progressive politics. Speak of a personal hero in the party. Speak about some family member, friend or coworker who has seen the light, and who no longer wishes to use government for the purposes of shredding our national fabric, but who wants to pitch in and sew it back together.So where to begin?
It of course helps to be the child of two liberal parents. Very Catholic, but also very liberal. Nowadays, people would look askance at that, but back then it wasn't that unusual--my parents, after all, were of the same generation as the Kennedys.
Growing up in the 70s, and going through high school in the early 80s, I remember watching the Watergate hearings on TV and thinking they were just another TV show. I remember more clearly the 1976 debate between Ford and Carter when Ford made his famous Poland gaffe. As young as I was, I always thought Carter was a fine President, and I never understood why so many people disliked him. I always thought there was something artificial about Reagan--too "slogany", as it were.
But if you want to hear what really turned me off to Republicanism, jump below the Chee-to: