What got you into politics?

[fencesitter]

Folks here in DU have more than a passing interest in politics or else we wouldn't spend our time posting and debating. I think most citizens don't pay attention until an issue actually effects them personally and that can go eventually to either freeperville or here. For me, the 92 elections piqued my interest because there was this third candidate who was actually being taken seriously. The health care issue introduced by the early Clinton administration was my catalyst. My rates were rising dramatically and I thought the idea of a Nat'l system was a great idea. After watching this idea bashed into the ground by special interests and then the arrogance of the '94 Gingrich led "contract on America", and the subsequent "RW conspiracy" to bring down Bill Clinton, I took up arms against the new republican army. How about you all?

[slackmaster]

1. Environemental issues

Local ones - Destruction of native habitats in Southern California.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. The Reagan Administration

Which compared to the current was Camelot....

[fencesitter]

18. Ahhh, the good old days

n/p

[Arugula Latte]

75. Me, too. It was that piece of shit Reagan

I hated him with a passion, and didn't think I'd ever hate anyone more. Then this moron from Texas comes along and steals an election...

[LittleApple81]

3. Sadness...

I admired so many things about America... not that I thought it was perfect... nothing is perfect... but the basic institutions and beliefs were basically sound.
Now, I am just so sad about the present situation and the ignorance, fanaticism, and paranoia of so many of us Americans.

[hang a left]

4. Clinton Impeachment Hearings

[TioDiego]

6. My Dad

[Nevernose]

14. Me too

Except it wasn't your dad, it was mine, if you see what I'm saying.

[starroute]

58. And me

By the time I was seven or eight, he was taking me around from door to door on get-out-the-vote nights. When I was twelve, he used to bring me to the local reform Democratic club on summer evenings (I guess to get me out of my mother's hair) and also had me handing out fliers in the park.

All that made a big impression on me, and though I haven't been as politically active as he was, I've never not cared.

[Palacsinta]

5. Substituted for a Dem on our election board

and then was elected to the position. Realized that Dems were only 13% of reg. voters in my little district and decided to change that. Got more involved during the Monica stupidity, even more after the bloodless coup of 2000..started going nutsy after the selling of the war last Sept. and joined DU!

[proud patriot]

7. The Coup activated me

Zinn peeked my intrest but never activated me .

[kimchi]

16. Indeed. I was so p#$%ed after the selection

that I couldn't sit still and take anymore.

[SharonAnn]

49. Me too! Election 2000 - Refusal to count the votes

was what activated me.

Reagan and his policies caused me to leave the Republican party.

Selection 2000 caused me to become active in the Democratic Party.

[sangh0]

8. NYC School boycott over busing

in Crown Heights. I was a "scab", and I went to school. Later that year, my friends house was fire-bombed because the realtor showed their house to a black couple. The realtor's office was also firebombed, several times.

[wickerwoman]

9. Doonesbury

I went through fits and starts of interest in politics for years particularly around the first Gulf War but I wasn't really an activist and was inclined to deny I was a feminist or environmentalist.
After September 11th, like most people I couldn't stop checking the news every five minutes. Unlike many people, I used the web to maximum advantage and turned off the TV. I discovered The Progressive, Counter-Punch, DU, Bartcop, Whitehouse.org, and the rest of the gang. I was also in grad school at the time doing a new kind of reading and thinking about race, class and gender issues.
So I'm kind of a mix of pop-culture, academic, and virtual influences turned activist after September 11th.

[meegbear]

10. What they say mainly...

I was brought up a Catholic, and while I'm not practicing it, it angered me how people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were pushing the conservative (republican) aganda and using Jesus as their spokesman.

The thing that really sparked me though was I was riding on a bus and someone left a NYPost on the seat (I'm in Boston). I knew it was sckewed to the right, like the Boston Herald, but it was ridiculous. The main thing that got me was a column called "Times Watch", which was someone who just badmouthed the New York Times. His column focused on the New York Times Book Review. One of the books reviewed was "The History of the Communist Party in America", if I remember the exact title correctly, and it was reviewed on page 5. His column was basically saying: "Why wasn't this book on page 1? What are they trying to hide?". And thinking how stupid this column was, I starting thinking somebody out there is thinking "YEAH! What ARE they hiding?".

Since then, I try to listen to their rhetoric and find the illogics in them.

[Iverson]

11. 1967

My parents took my brother and me on a peace march across the Ambassador Bridge (Detroit to Windsor). We saw ourselves on the news that night. That started it, and everything about 1968 made sure that it was for keeps.

[HERVEPA]

12. Vietnam War

[Raenelle]

36. Yep, me too--back in 1966. Hot damn, Vietnam.

To be specific, it was reading Robert Scheer in Ramparts magazine about Vietnam that roused me.

[Terwilliger]

13. always been politically interested...in passing

became much more involved when I couldn't run to the store and get an ounce of weed. Thought to myself, "tobacco is subsidized and marijuana is illegal...this is America?" :shrug:

[Suspicious]

26. :)

...became much more involved when I couldn't run to the store and get an ounce of weed

Which store were you frequenting prior to your political awakening? :smoke:

P.S. Sorry - I just had to...this made me chuckle as I was browsing through the responses.

[Terwilliger]

28. the store of contentment

content that I had to run around under cover of night to purchase a drug that is less harmful than aspirin

[Suspicious]

35. No disagreement from me...

The absurdity of laws which allow corporations to capitalize on liquor and cigarettes (not to mention the profits being reaped by the pharmaceutical industry from prescription drugs, such as oxycontin, which rivals heroin as far as addictive qualities), yet criminalize marijuana, is not lost on me.

[lcordero]

15. The war was the breaking point

What also built up to the breaking point was the coup and 9/11. It seems like we have regressed past the point we were at 40 years ago.

On edit: the more that I look at politics and it's players, the less I like it. It looks like a lose-lose situation the more that I look at it. I'm contemplating finding a way to deregister out of the voting process even though I have never voted before.

[ikojo]

17. I grew up working-class and saw my mom struggle.

I knew that there had to be a better way and that it was so wrong to see her struggle to feed us (we did sometimes go without food, electricity and such). Of course regardless of how hard my mom worked she never got ahead.

I supported political parties and candidates that took the working person into consideration. Unfortunately they have been in short supply the last 20 years or so.

[nomaco-10]

19. Vietnam....

Even though I was very young, I remember seeing the war covered on the nightly news (back when they actually covered the war; blood, body counts) Then there was KENT STATE... My life was never the same.

[HawkerHurricane]

20. Rush Limbaugh's lies and changing sides

in 1992, Feb, I listened to Rush and caught him in lies on a regular basis...On that first Tuesday and Wednesday, he cheered Buchanan on as he beat Bush in the New Hampshire primary. On Thursday, he had changed his tune and became a Bush shill.
At that point, I realized that the Replutocans would do anything to win, even sell out one of their own. With that attitude, I didn't want them in positions of authority.

[janx]

22. That guy has done more to dumb down and divide Americans

than anyone I can think of on this planet. And he has made millions doing so!

[swinney]

21. HAYNES JOHNSON'S BOOK SLEEPWALKING THROUGH HISTORY.

I was apolitical till 1991 when I saw the book in local library.
I knew Hayne's record for honesty so I read the book. I was stunned.

I voted twice for Reagan.

I did not realize the scandals under him. I was unaware of damage he did to our economy.

I became an avid student of Reagan then Clinton.

Clinton will go into history books as one of all time great presidents.

Reagan was a brain dead affable dunce. It will be revealed in history books.

ONCE Democrats have control.

[AntiCoup2K4]

56. Subsitute "Bush" for "Reagan" and you have a profile of all the

...corporate media Busheep out there. Since some of them probably can't, and others won't read, how do we get the truth to penetrate their skulls like Haynes Johnson's did yours?

[MoonGod]

23. California Prop 22

I was always kinda interested in politics, but not active (although I did vote, at least).

... but when Prop 22 (the Limits on Marriage initiative) came around and one of my best friends came home to find his apartment building plastered in Yes on 22 posters, that got both of us involved in a big way.

[JNelson6563]

24. Clinton years

As an semi-interested, unbiased observer I was shocked and horrified to see the behavior of the right--and how the people were duped by it.

Read lots of books, learned all I could (still doing that) and jumped off the fence to the left side and never looked back.

Julie

[indigo32]

25. My folks were always aware and liberal

but not active... I wound up having a really cool Civics teacher in high school and so went right out and campaigned for Dukakis, and drug my mom to our primary that year. In college I was somewhat active, and then while always paying attention... didn't do much during the Clinton years. Bush has definitely activated me again.

[Droopy]

27. 9/11

That's what got me interested. I started following politics then, especially foreign policy. I read up on the background of Afghanistan and later on Iraq. I started reading alternative news sources as well as following our leaders in the mainstream news. That eventually led me to this site because I see the Democrats as our last hope. I'm further to the left than most Democrats, but I've come to realize that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans even though the Dems may not be all that I want in a party.

[redeye]

29. The Fascist Act...

...and then reading about how Hitler basically did the same things in the early 1930s.

[shanti]

30. the 2000 selection

that did it for me!

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

31. When they replaced Quadaffi with Saddam Hussein

In the mall, they used to sell target posters with a picture of Momar Quadaffi. A few years later, when Gulf War I started, they replaced Momar Quadaffi's face with Saddam Hussein's. I drew the obvious conclusions and learned more.

[DemExpat]

32. The Clinton/Lewinsky investigation warmed me up......

for the 2000 Selection.

:kick:

DemEx

[SayitAintSo]

33. Iran Contra Hearings

Got me paying attention. The Clinton Impeachement Hearings got me pissed. The 2000 Coup made me an activist.

[myopinion]

34. Lack of Trust

What got me into politics was being under the draft to be fodder in Vietnam; I lost several good friends there. I was one of the lucky ones, they stopped the draft 2 months before my number was set to come up, remember the draft lottery- the only lottery I have ever won. At the time I told everyone who would listening that Nixon was “evil” to steal a phase, he too lied at the time promising to end the war that was making no sense at election time but afterwards escalating it in Cambodia and Laos under covert operations. Time proved me right.

I have never trusted a Republican to do what they say, except maybe John McCain.

Next time you talk to Repub, just ask has there ever been a Republican president that did not have a recession, the answer is NO going all the way back to U.Grant, what a bad track record.

[snooper2]

37. The selection of 2000

eom

[ElsewheresDaughter]

38. 50/60s growing up in the south and the "whites only" & "colored only"

water fountians and back of the bus riders...the civil rights movement hooked me....as a child in school and used public transportation, i got kicked of the bus more times than i can remember for getting up and giving my seat to elderly tired black folkes....the bus driver even called the police on me and my sibblings many times and carried us home to report our actions to our parents lol...my folkes thaught us well...we marched! and i have been socially active for as long as i can remember

[paulk]

39. Vietnam...

The assignment in my 8th grade English class was to give a 5 minute speech on a topic of our choosing. It was 1969. I chose Vietnam - motivated mostly by the fact that my older brother, who had been drafted, was there.

I spent two weeks in the library reading everything that I could about the history of Vietnam and the (then) current conflict. Prior to this exposure, I'd had no real opinion - in fact, I doubt that I could have found the country on a map.

What I learned rocked my world - I reached the conclusion, specifically, that my brother's life was in danger for no good reason that I could understand. The experience politicized me - it made me question my government; hell, it made me question everything.

I gave a speech condemning American involvement in Vietnam, which earned me the scorn of pretty much the entire rest of the class. That too, was an educational experience.

[Monte Carlo]

40. Michael Moore, no question.

I first remember seeing him during his TV Nation days. I remember being blown away by his style, by substantive news stories laced with humor; to make the medicine easier to swallow.

He was the first one to make me belive that politics mattered. That's also why I find it disturbing that some here at DU cast him aside as a liability or turncoat. He brings more to the table that I think a lot of people appreciate.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

67. Michael Moore's TV Nation made me realize I was a Democrat

I had already gotten into politics, and read the Washington Post most every day, but I didn't know what side I was on, until TV Nation. Michael Moore made me realize that I belonged in the Democratic party.

[Monte Carlo]

72. Amen, TV Nation showed me the meaning of the term

Before, during the Bush-Clinton race in 1992, Republican and Democrat were just names to me, like ball teams. Granted, I was in Jr. High at the time, but my party affiliation changed like the local winds.

Then, I saw TV Nation and that changed everything. I don't even remember most of the segments on the show that well, but what I do remember was awe-inspiring.

I remember Mike showing the new, kinder, gentler face of the KKK that was tried at one time. I remember Greenwich, CT and their private rich-people beaches, and a segment on North Dakota. Priceless.

[uptohere]

41. "four dead in O-HI-O"

actually before that but that helped galvanize things and close the door from going back for me.

[w4rma]

42. I watched the media tear up Al Gore in 2000

I was only barely aware of politics during the Clinton presidency. I found myself on the opposite side from the Republicans on everything they did and therefore found myself gravitating towards the Democratic Party.

In 2000:
I watched as folks who were supposed to know alot about politics talk like ideologues.
I watched as Bush blatantly lied on TV and was never called on it while Gore was attacked for practically nothing.
I visited various right-wing messageboards and couldn't believe the idiocy that people actually thought was reality.
I couldn't find any real left-wing commontary anywhere.

So, I decided that I'd jump into the fray and try to change the debate and try to find out what *really* is causing the problems in our political environment.

I may not be the reason for the change of the debate that I have finally seen happen, but I will say that Gov. Dean is saying and doing all the right things.

[Cheswick2.0]

44. Kent State

I was in middle school and I couldn't understand how they could kill those kids for protesting.

[fizzana]

43. Growing up under Apartheid in South Africa.

That was enough to make anyone political. Also my parents had a long background in politics as well.

[donotpassgo]

45. Iran Contra when I was 10 or 11...

I really had no clue what was going on but I knew it was important. There also was Chernobyl and the bombing of Libya a couple of years earlier.

[kodi]

46. my parents.

god bless 'em. each worked on jfk's and rfk's campaigns in '60 and '68....we had 3 pix hanging on the wall in our house, john's, bobby's and the pope's.

[Dookus]

47. Watergate hearings...

I was 13 at the time. It was the biggest story going, in the papers and on TV, and I was an avid reader. I started reading newspapers around then, and when the hearings were on, they pre-empted everything else on TV. So I watched 'em. I remember being giddy as hell the day of Nixon's resignation speech. Watched it live knowing it was history in the making.

Been hooked since then.

[Chovexani]

48. Michael Moore (and the coup)

Actually when I was in middle school, I had an American history teacher who happened to be a lesbian feminist and used Howard Zinn xeroxes as our textbook instead of the standard RW textbook propaganda. I went to a wealthy private school on scholarship, and it was pretty conservative (I wore a Jesse Jackson for Pres button as a naive kid, mostly cause I was raised a Democrat, and was totally ridiculed by pretty much everyone), so she was the first real exposure I'd had to liberal ideas at school. She piqued my interest enough to want to find out more, but I was still basically apolitical until I came across this wacky little show called TV Nation. The first one I saw was the one where MM was in Alabama (Mississippi?) and was exposing the fact that the state hadn't abolished slavery. A black correspondent for the show got some white slaves and took them around town, sipped mint julips on the plantation while the white guys worked the field, etc. That show floored me, one because it was freaking hilarious, and two because it was the first time I'd ever seen a white guy on TV actually talking about race issues and giving a shit about black people. I was hooked. MM is my political "father" in a sense because he built on the stuff I learned from my history teacher, and it was from him that I really learned to question things, and not just accept everything people say. The guy is hilarious and like another poster said, the humor is the sugar that helps the medicine (truth) go down.

The Clinton Witch Hunt kicked it up a notch. The Coup was the straw that broke the camel's back, and was what got me involved on an activist level. I started reading a LOT more political books. Like I said before, I was raised a liberal Democrat, so I just accepted the positions on various things. 2000 was what made me really want to learn the "whys" about the issues, so that I could fully understand why it is that I'm a liberal Democrat. DU has helped immensely in that regard. :)

[sweetheart]

50. the internet and nineleven

I firstly started posting on the UK's government free speach board which was like speakers corner. (the northeast corner of hyde park is designated for free speech all comers.. and they can "even" denounce the queen in public) I started by confessing to smoking cannabis as in the UK, confession is incriminating and they could come and arrest me... and that whetted my taste for online civil disobedience.

So i posted on boards for a copula years making no mind... and then the nineleven event happened, and our company was planning until that august to have me present at a conference at windows on the world at the 104th floor of world trade 1... nobody lived from that conference... www.fixprotocol.org.

My spiritual teacher's tradition for 2 decades in america was HQ'd on the 79th floor of WTC 1 where the first aircraft nosecone hit the first building... or within a few floors. Between this omen of a direct strike on my former lineage and a near miss for myself, i figured to speak out more intensely, directly inside america on this leftwing board. The people here are good hearted, and i hope that i contribute somehow to helping the good guys win this next time round.

In the fall of 2000, i had an intuition to move to florida for a few months, that it was the right thing to do... and that it might be a critical thing come election time... but i did not act on my intuition... and i feel guilty for not acting, that everyone might be happily asleep these days in a gore success story. That i did not act, and the evil coup happened, and that i was nearly murdered by similar forces... it was time to speak out whether they come and kill me or not. Bushama W. bin laden, you WILLLLLL go down.

[Walt Starr]

51. Religious fundamentlist agenda terrified me.

'nuff said.

[populistmom]

52. My parents

My dad was a delegate (Democrat) in 1968 when he was only 22. Both of my parents worked very hard in special education advocacy back in the 70's. Political responsibility and historical knowledge was something that was a part of daily life and conversations in our household. I think in many ways my parents' dreams (especially my dad's) were rather unfullfilled and that's hard to see. My father is an attorney who wanted to go into politics himself, but found too many ethical roadblocks and personal issues in life that got in his way. I wish I could do more now myself, but I think down the road I'll be one of those women who get into things once my children get older (like in my late 40's or 50's, I'm 31 now) and I'm free to pursue things. Right now, I do the best I can to be an informed person and raise another generation with some values and purpose.

(edited for spelling error)

[buddhamama]

53. labor issues

as a young girl i walked the picket line with my mother; she was a union Rep and i went through the entire process with her. that is what started me on the path of social activism.

there were State politicians that my family members knew and were friends with. i didn't think much about it at the time but now i wish i had paid closer attention.

[bitchkitty]

54. The Arkansas Project -

They raised so much hell about Clinton, I decided to check him out for myself. Registered to vote (Democrat of course) and have been voting ever since! Thanks, Ted Olsen!

[Forkboy]

55. NO NUKES

The Raygun admin scared the shit of me when I was 16.

[Catherine Vincent]

57. The bogus impeachment of President Clinton!

Also the hatred spewed from the repuglican party I used to vote for.

[Breezy du Nord]

59. Right after 9/11

Although a few months before i started thinking about a lot of things. That's also when I started questioning my religion. Before 9/11, i was really too young to care.

[Imalittleteapot]

60. Vietnam and Civil Rights nt

[Snellius]

61. Kennedy

and his assassination.

[Nikia]

62. I was raised that way

My parents married and divorced when I was very young so I hung around my grandparents a lot when I was very young. My mother's parents watched the morning, noon, and evening news everyday as well as listed to public radio news programs in the afternoon. My early memories were about them yelling that Reagan and Bush were liars and crooks. They were also good friends with all the local Democrat politicians, my grandmother being on the county central committee, and friends with a few Republicans as well despite their strong party loyalty. They didn't hold things against people like that even if they did get into a political arguement and they asked the guest to leave. My father's parents were Republicans but not as vocal because they were non confrontational types who did not want to argue with people politically, but my grandmother was on the Republican county central committee. I formed my own beliefs throughout my childhood and onwards since I read as many books about government, history, and related issues. I guess that being around them mainly taught me that such things were important.

[TrogL]

63. A friend gave me an email address

Asked me not to use it to overthrow the US government.

Don't ever, ever tell me what not to do.

Actually, I'm involved for gay rights issues.

[LoneStarLiberal]

65. I Was A Libertarian

I spent most of my youth and young adult-hood as a libertarian. Once half of this country threw up their hands in exasperation at doing what we are all supposed to do in a democracy (finish counting the votes) and Bush became our President while losing the popular vote, I started re-evaluating my positions.

Once the onerous and obscene pandering to corporations, war against civil liberties, and war against the poor really took off when Bush got settled into his office, I had to admit my libertarian paradise where it's all a meritocracy and the heavy hand of government stays in the government's pocket and not mine were just not going to happen.

In an odd sense, I have to thank George Bush for pissing me off enough and doing enough vile crap to this wonderful country. If he hadn't I'd probably still be a easy-going libertarian.

[cmf]

64. I got into it in High School.

I had to arm myself against all of the Rush-wannabe blowhards in my class. In college, I wasn't terribly active, but I did go to a few College Democrat activities. I protested a few court decisions here and there. I got into it again after college during the right wing impeachment assault on Clinton. The 2000 selection and subsequent Constitutional assaults by the Bush junta have propelled me to a new level of liberalness and awareness.

[DrWeird]

66. Dungeons and Dragons.

Why it is legal for those awful little satan worhshippers, what with their uppity di and their colorful imaginations, to run around is beyond me.

Military camp for the lot of them, I says.

[toddzilla]

68. 9-11

went to the library and read some chomsky.. then my whole world pretty much dissolved..

"you mean we aren't a wonderful, democratic, benevolent force in the world?"

[diamondsoul]

69. Owning my own accountability for not voting in 2000

and seeing what it led to got the ball rolling. After that, it was the push to "bomb some brown people"(as George Carlin would say).

As a military spouse, and previous Army-brat, I feel some responsibility on my own shoulders for every single troop who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention all the innocent civilians of each country. That leads to rage, some personal and some directed towards the enemies who are steadily destroying my country.

Seeing all this and reflecting back on the end of Viet Nam, plus all the Veterans in my own family, looking around and seeing the sickening horror of poverty in the wealthiest country in the world, etc., etc., etc., and then hearing ONE MAN say everything that was making my stomach turn over. Thank Dennis J. Kucinich for my involvement because he's the one who made me believe my voice DOES matter. Will Pitt deserves a secondary thanks for reinforcing that message in a profound way.

[TheDonkey]

70. Sim City!!!

Well actually there are many things that got me into politics.

SimCity when I was younger was the first thing. I was so interested in how you could make so many people happy (or mad) and create enviroments for them to live in.

When I had American Civics in High School that quickly became my favorite subject as I learned abotu government, politics, and cities.

Then I came to college and majored in Public Administration with a leaning towards political science.

What really enegrized me in politics and Democrats was the 2000 presidential elections and the theft by the right wing and the villainizing of liberalism.

Now I'm part of DU and loving it. A new chapter in my political interest book.

[CBHagman]

71. A combination of things

I always voted and took an interest in a few particular issues (human rights, for example), but my political development was so gradual that I can't point to one "Aha!" experience among them all.

Living in Europe forced me to begin talking about politics, and I was humiliated by how relatively ill-informed I was compared with college-educated Europeans, who could intelligently discuss American politics.

Everyone I talked to in Europe -- and I mean EVERYONE -- regarded Ronald Reagan as either a joke or a very dangerous man. When I came back from abroad, I'd see George Will's columns gushing about how the Europeans respected Reagan. Huh. A little old lady in a laundromat once told me that I'd talked to "the wrong people" in Europe because none of them liked Reagan.

Living abroad, by the way, is right up there with spiritual conversion and serious illness among life-changing experiences. It genuinely helped to form my outlook.

I grew gradually more liberal, for the most part, as I grew older. It's only in the last 10 years that I've gotten more politically active and taken to writing, calling and e-mailing elected officials, plus volunteering for the party and meeting up with other politically inclined folks.

[BANGARANG]

73. I'm only 14...

so the 2000 election and the current administartion.

[ComerPerro]

76. Jesus

You are only 14 and you are already posting here?

Welcome to DU! Good to have you youngins.

(Im 21)

But 14?
Wow.

[TheBigGuy]

74. hard to say.,,,& im not really "in politics"....heres my story:

I grew up in political cultures...Chicago and Kentucky. Politics was sort of part of the folk culture in those two places.

Also, my dad and grandad where into politics...they followed it, and my grandad was "connected" to the machine. My dad was a ward heeler, too...so there was that old Democratic Machine loyalty in play....and my mas side where German social democrats from way way back....

That means I was always aware that poltiics was out there.

I was also really interested in history, and you cant really seperate politics from history in an era of paliamentary democracy which the West entered w. the Engish, US and French revolutions.

Plus, in high school, i did alot of precinct level political work for the guy i used to do yardwork and odd jobs for. So that got me into real life politics...not just reading about it and talking about it.

I also found and still do find sports terribly boring....so I follow politics alot like the way people follow sports...I have my favorite players and teams...so politics is a form of entertainment and amusement for me.

[Lindsey]

77. The 2000 selection

I can't remember EVER being so outraged at anything in my entire life. I loved the Clinton/Gore years and was upset during the impeachment. However, I didn't really start investigating, reading, and becoming actively involved until 12/12/00. My first march was on 1/20/01 at * inauguration ( I was in downtown L.A.). After the devastating event of have a selected resident, I started reading..and boy...did I find out more than I would ever hope to know. It all started with Bugliosi's "The Betrayal of America." Then I started reading ALL of the books on the Clinton character assasination (Blinded by the Right, The Hunting of the President, etc.). Knowing what the REpublicans have done is truly beyond words. Sometimes I just wish I didn't know. Sometimes I simply don't know what to do with the anger. That's why DU is so important. I just started reading a book about actually pretending that you have a FEELING before you have it and eventually, you'll get it. I've made notes that I'm looking at everyday to raise my vibration and remind me to feel that we have a government that I can be proud of. What a journey....