I "should" be a Democrat. Why am I not?
I was born in the 1960's.
I'm from a poor neighborhood in NY.
Times were bad for a long time, and at 1 point we basically only had cereal, pasta and sauce, and chicken legs to get through the month.
I'm Catholic, and like other Catholics I contribute not only financially to my Church and to Catholic Charities, but I also donate money to St. Judes Hospital, and contribute to local food banks.
Now I'm probably considered middle class or lower middle class.
Based on every demographic one can measure, I should be a died-in-the-wool Democrat and reliable Obama voter.
So why am I not?
My Mom and her entire family were dirt poor and were Democrats, except for 1 Aunt who was considered a Communist back then, my Dad and his family were poor and were Republicans. I always say I was born a Republican, my Mother stumped for Stevenson, Kennedy, Johnson, Kennedy, McGovern, Carter etc. my Mother told me when I was very young that Bobby Kennedy was making an appearance in NY, she said she picked me up and carried me the entire way, when we got there she was holding me up hoping that Bobby would pick me up, she said I had such a screaming fit that she gave up
, adding to her horror was me watching Nixon's resignation, and even though I was young I understood what was happening and I cried when he resigned, my Mother hated Nixon, but she never berated me for my views. I remember asking my Mom why she voted for Kennedy, she said because "he was cute", when I asked my Dad why he voted for Nixon he spouted off a whole list of reasons.
My Parents never had much, but they also never expected a handout from the Government, they worked hard and were compensated for it, it was their choice whether or not to find something even better, to educate themselves to get better jobs, it was their choice to keep the status quo, there were some good financial times but mostly not so good financial times, but we made due with what we had. I don't remember my Parents ever having a credit card, my Mom did get 1 years after my Dad passed away.
My Parents were also the Daughter of immigrants and my Dad the Grandson of immigrants, their Parents and Grandparents came here when signs of "Irish need not apply" and Italians weren't wanted by anyone, but they moved forward. For some weird reason Democrats make it seem like "hard work" is such a bad thing, but we've never really felt like that.
My Parents loved/love this Country, both Parents loved and still love what this Country has done for millions of people around the world, they saw and see the good in this Country as opposed to the bad, they love the flag and found/find it offensive that anyone would burn it.
As far as bigotry goes? that's funny, I only recall 1 relative using the N word and she was told in no uncertain terms not to use that word in front of us. My Parents tended to be friends with "hispanics" and a few "blacks" and those friends always seemed to outnumber their "white friends", and lie lie lie about the comments about gay people, gay people were closeted heavily back them, I can't ever recall 1 conversation about someone who was "gay", we had gay people in our family, I found that out years later, but since "gay people" were never a source of conversation, and no doubt my older relatives knew about it, they were never ostracized at all. As for Jewish people? the Democrats always seemed to make the snide remarks about them, my Mom's family didn't though.
A funny thing though in reference to maturity, my Dad's family is still almost all Republican, but my Mom's family? almost all Republican too, even the "Communist" who's actually a HUGE Conservative Republican. It took my Mom about 20 years to officially make the change, she said it was hard because she was born a Democrat, and she always believed in the party, but she felt as though the left was mocking her beliefs because she's a very Religious woman, so she stayed a Democrat and cast her vote for George HW Bush, the 1st time she ever voted for a Republican, and she only votes Republican now, and became a Republican officially about 6 years ago.
So...
Let Americans keep the money they earn Mr. President, if anything it'll do what's not being done now, it'll stimulate the economy, and a stimulated economy benefits us all.
Stop letting the environmentalists wackos have a seat at your table, nothing wrong at all with drilling on our soil, and using coal or investing in nuclear power.
Civil rights for all includes white men folk too.
Compare our society when Religion was more prevalent and compare that to now where the radical leftists want to marginalize it.
I should be a Democrat. I should be in Obama's wheelhouse.
But I'm not because I have common sense, when I see high unemployment, Americans losing value on their homes, high gas prices, lower income, and a high misery index, common sense dictates that leftist policies suck.
Go Romney!
