Hello!
By way of introduction, my name is Josh, I'm in my early thirties, happily married, and proud father of a beautiful little girl who is almost two years old. I currently reside in Texas 
but have called many states home over the years.
Until fairly recently I would have labeled myself as Republican or even Libertarian. This was a direct result of my very conservative/religious upbringing. Don't misunderstand, my parents are wonderful people but severely misguided in my opinion. I "lost my faith" while in high school (what a silly phrase, I didn't lose anything; I willfully rejected it as nonsense) but irrationally clung to the politics. I can honestly say I never voted for W. Bush though, I blew off the first election like the irresponsible 19 year old I was and consciously abstained from the second. I couldn't vote for someone I viewed with contempt but neither could I vote against a republican. I suppose that's about the time the cracks formed.
Then something happened. I was incarcerated for about a year. I've always been an avid reader but I always tended toward fiction. In jail the fiction selection was pretty thin but there were several books on philosophy and a couple different newspapers everyday. I started to get a better picture of the world around me. I started drawing my own conclusions. At that point I would probably have considered myself independent with a conservative lean although the prison industrial complex bothered me greatly (which news articles did you expect an inmate to be drawn to?).
After my release I decided to keep learning. I spent hours at Breitbart and Daily Kos. Lurked in places like DU and Free Republic. Did my own fact checking. I learned a lot. A whole hell of a lot. And the more I learned the more I was drawn to the progressive point of view. It's true what they say, reality has a liberal bias 
.
At this point most people (including myself) would consider me a hard core progressive and many of my view points tend to be in line with those here at DU. I generally approve of Obama though have major issue with a few of his policies. That said, I know, beyond doubt, the alternative is far, far worse.
Anyways, I know that was really long and I doubt anybody will read all of it. In brief, thanks for having me and I look forward to spending time with all of you!
= new reply since forum marked as read
And I did read your whole missive! Well done, and I hope your life continues to be a good one.
This is a very cool community, and if you stick around and explore the various forums/groups, you will almost certainly find things to your liking.
I'm glad you found us! 
Welcome to DU. I am glad that your life is going in a good direction now and hope that it continues. I have always said that if people would do research and reading, they would be liberal....unless there is some selfish reason to go in the conservative direction.
I hope that your movement toward the Democratic party continues. It must not have been easy to buck your upbringing.
We have a wide range of opinions here on the specifics, but we all generally agree on the same thing: we want a better life for all Americans through progressive reform.