My road to radicalization

[nadinbrzezinski]

So I was having a less than polite discussion with somebody and it occurred to me, how did I become an independent?

I came to the US from another country, and when I became a citizen, in 1998, I naturally joined the Democratic party. It was a no brainier

My first election was 2000, and I scarcely paid attention ot the primaries, after all this state had scarcely a peep of a role in them. I also voted for Gore\Lieberman and the rest of the Dem ticket, because hey, that is what I am expected to do... or at least I thought so.

Then comes December 12, 2000 and the beginning of my education and down the road to radicalization.

I started watching C-SPAN, and found Mike Malloy on the radio (computer, as well as Peter Werbe and both Ray taliafero and Bernie Ward.)

I started readying, voraciously about how the system really works. Hell, until this year I have not read a fiction book.

I became more and more disenchanted with our party's inability to function as an effective opposition party, and started finding out some things about some of our candidates, like Feinstein's links to the Carlyle group. I also learned about Yellow Dogs and blue dogs and Progresives and conservatives and to a point this knoweldge made it even harder to see myself in any of these groups...

My glasses were finally lifted when the gift to the Credit Card companies passed, shortly after Alito was approved.

that is when I made my mind... and I went ahead and changed my registration from Democratic Party to Independent

It is not because the party left me, but because they were highly ineffective at doing what opposition parties do...

Now I also live in a modified primary state, so very technically I could vote on either primary.

In some ways I wish ALL states had open primaries and the only people who declared party, or faction, were the candidates

Of course I wish to see proportional representation and public financing of elections.

But the reality is... these days this former Dmm tends to still vote DEM, but will only fund local and congressional candidates who are from the local area, AFTER I vet them personally... and if a local dem does not measure up... that will be a problem

That said... a snow ball has a far better chance in hell than the Republican party ever getting my vote... after the last six years... I will never vote for a republican... and that is clear to me now.

I wonder, how many others have walked a similar path, and will the party ever have a chance to get us to register democratic again? There is a chance... but there are some things that need to happen that have yet to happen...

And no, I am not looking for ideological purity either... I am far more jaded than just looking for purity... and alas I do understand how the damn system works and the games that are being played.

Edited for clarity

[MuseRider]

1. My journey was much like yours.

I am unaffiliated because there is no independent offered in my state. I doubt I ever change it again, I kind of like where I am and have never had a strong desire to be part of the "in group out group" game.

[mike_c]

2. my path was similar in some respects, different in others....

I came of voting age in 1973 and have voted solidly dem in every election since UNTIL 2004. Rather than registering independent I've gone green, but the sentiment is the same-- the dems, to whom I've been loyal for thirty voting years, have not represented my interests in opposing the madness that the republicans have unleashed in America. I still vote for dems WHEN THEY REPRESENT ME and always will, but I no longer vote a solid ticket reflexively. I vote for the candidates who best represent my politics, not the lesser evil any longer.

Like you, I will never vote for a republican-- I'm not sure I could knowingly sit down at a table with one, let alone support them at the polls. But the democratic party needs to earn my vote these days.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I have on purpose cut on frienships

with Republicans... well in one case the guy was an admited freeper... good guy overall, until we looked under the hood and his politics

[MistressOverdone]

4. In the part of the country where I live

if you aren't on the rolls as a Dem, you have absolutely no say in local elections, because it all happens at the primary level. Everyone, including the dogcatcher, is a Dem. That includes the school board, superintendent, all the city and county officials, etc. The only vote you have as an independent is in the general elections for Congress, the Gov., and the POTUS.

I think I am probably by this time more independent than Dem, as well, but I like my say in the election.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. If I were in that situation I'd keep the affilaition

but thankfully I am not

;-)

So I get to get my say and eat my cake too!

[stillcool]

6. I probably saw you at the on-ramp...

I had no idea where I was headed...but once I got going....no u-turns were allowed. The 2000 election was my political baptism, all because of a women's symposium show I saw on C-Span which alerted me to the possibility of Roe v Wade being over-turned. Prior to that I was of the opinion that government was something to avoid, run away from.. not embrace. At the age of twelve I was required to go the Social Security Office, and apply for VA benefits from my father, and some kind of death benefits from my mother. Perhaps the most poignant life lesson of what government is. Mixed messages, and a full repertoire of trite sayings were all I had as an education to the world outside myself. No one said that bootstraps sometimes broke. That no one can do life alone. Government was something to help other people, people with connections... but if you asked for help....a hand-out if you will...shame on you..even when the adults in your life were the one's who instigated the charity, and to who the hand-out went. It was not until I inspected my life that I started to question the health of the society that surrounded me. What morals? What religion? What education? What health-care? What government?

[JNelson6563]

7. I'm the same but don't consider it radical

I have felt such disappointment with the Dems at various times! Grrr!! So I do as you do, I'm invovled locally and at the District level and have real issues with anyone running who sports a big fat sense of entitlement: I'm a Dem therefore you owe me your support. Um, no.

The way national campaigns throw money around I personally no longer donate to them. I know that my modest donations go a lot further in local/state races and helping build my local party.

Julie

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. For some it is

;-)

Sad but true

[Rydz777]

8. The Whigs

The Republican Party was successor to the Whigs who disappeared because they no longer stood for anything that anybody wanted. I think that Bush has wrecked the Republican Party and that it will go the way of the Whigs - to oblivion.

That will leave the Democratic Party in power for a long time ahead, and the real political struggle will be within factions among Democrats - somewhat like what is going on right now about how to end the war. There will be a radical faction, but there will also be factions wedded to the status quo and compromised by all the temptations of power.

In any case, the Democratic Party will be where the action is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Reaching for the historian's hat

1.- The whigs, just as the Democrats, supported slavery... sad fact, but true

The Republicans rose in opposition to it. That is why they got the election of 1860... but after the civil war the Republicans filled the place the Whig party had filled in the past

If you think that the disappearance of the Republican Party (and I am not willing to play taps for them yet, they have more lives than a cat), the conservatives will be gone... I have a huge bridge to sell... if you get my drift.

We have had the death of parties declared many times over, and they always surprise us, with the exception of the whigs

2.- The Democrats want to reclaim those votes, they will have to do what their predecessors did with the Grangers and other third parties that came up from nowhere and bit them in the rear

In fact, again as a historian, we may be more than just ripe for a solid third party to emerge. The only thing protecting BOTH parties, is the inherent disorganization of third parties on either side, and laws that keep third parties out

Now let me take that hat off...

[PhilipShore]

9. Similar

I was a Democrat for years, I used to vote the Democratic Party line all elections. Now I am a non-affiliated party liberal Democrat. I was forced to divorce myself from the Democratic Party -- because, of the DLC policy of being anti-liberal.

In the Past -- when the Democratic Party was run by Democrats; and the Reagan Democrats, were not in control, they would at least give lip service to liberals in the Party -- now the liberals are a political football.

For me being a liberal means; I have to take into account the tactics of politics as well, as the policies, so it became time -- for me to leave, because -- the time has come -- when the Democratic politicians are to afraid to even utter the word liberal.