Fact: I have been a Democrat longer than Hillary Clinton has. It is not even a question. nt

[silvershadow]

[KPN]

1. K&R ....

[Ino]

2. She's older than me...

yet I have been a Democrat longer than her too!

[roguevalley]

16. I was born into a die hard leftie family and have been one for decades

longer than her. I don't question others who join us. Who the hell does she think she is doing that? Goldwater girl.

[karynnj]

20. Same here

This even though both my parents voted for Nixon, while my 10 year old self was for JFK. I listened to many of his speeches on radio when he was President.

[jillan]

3. Me too. I was born with an extra empathy gene. Seriously. And this Dem for life has no problem

that the first person in my 60 years that I am actually excited to vote for is a registered independent.

[HassleCat]

4. I do have trouble understanding that Goldwater Girl thing.

I have been a Democrat since before I could vote, and I never had Republican tendencies, so I can't empathize with someone who initially was an enthusiastic Republican, then switched to being an equally enthusiastic Democrat. It is true I almost voted for Nixon, but my instincts saved me at the last moment, really the last second. That's why it's difficult for me to relate to people who are one thing, then switch to the opposite field. Did they have no basic instincts? No innate sense of right and wrong? I can see it in a few cases, where the political party moves too far in one direction and leaves the individual behind, as in the case of moderate Republicans.

[Thirties Child]

5. I switched.

I grew up in a deep, deep red part of the country. My only exposure was conservative, and I came out of it an entrenched conservative. My first two votes were Eisenhower and Nixon. Then I left Texas, lived in D.C. during the Kennedy years, was exposed to other ways of thinking. By 1964, at age 29, I was a yellow dog Democrat. So - it is possible to change. My conservatism was strictly fiscal and certainly not well-thought-out. Which, since I was a member of the working class, means I was voting against my own self interest. I was instinctively liberal on race, at 10 told my grandmother's maid it wasn't fair that she had to ride in the back of the bus.

[onehandle]

6. Her family was Republican, but she was a Democrat by the time she first voted.

Let's talk about Elizabeth Warren who was a Republican deep into her 40s.

[onehandle]

7. I've been a Democrat for many decades longer than Senator Sanders. nt

[silvershadow]

8. And yet his policies are more "D" Democratic than Hillary's. nt

[CharlotteVale]

9. So have I.

[ContinentalOp]

10. I'm half Bernie's age and have been a registered Dem 20x longer than he has!

But the goldwater girl thing has always bugged me. Elizabeth Warren concerns me even more so. Funny how she's the go-to "I have a female friend" candidate for Sanders supporters.

[silvershadow]

12. If you're 1/2 his age then you don't even know what we lost. I lived it. nt

[ContinentalOp]

22. Consider my political lifetime

I grew up in the Reagan years and remember canvassing for Dukakis with my parents and feeling that we were always on the losing side and that the last Democratic president was treated as some kind of pop culture joke. A Democrat finally won the WH when I was a teenager, and we got to see 8 years of a well funded and organized right wing campaign to smear and attack he and his wife from any possible angle, ultimately ending in impeachment. Of course the criminals involved in Iran-Contra had already sailed off scott free.

I bought into the Nader dream only to see that bite us all in the ass. And then bought into the Obama dream which turned out to be a disappointment, but nothing like the damage caused by 20 years of Reagan/Bush/Bush. I'm to the left of Sanders but am not going to fall for Nader 2.0. Not this year, when the stakes are so high.

Don't tell me I don't know what I lost. You have benefitted from FDR's policies more than I ever will. I can see the clear differences between the economic opportunities of my grandparents, my parents, and myself. Sanders is smart to pander to that but the idea that he can do anything about it is laughable.

[silvershadow]

23. You are more awake than many, and I apologize if that sounded awful. I am not really that much

older than you, but I grew up in a union household where literally union meetings and hog roasts were held, with 200+ in attendance. Been breathing Democratic politics since I could read. Watched, with actual undivided interest, the Watergate hearings. Lived the ARAB oil embargo. Lived the long gas lines. Watched Carter put solar panels on the White House. Watched Reagan take them down.

Funny, but it seems so vivid in my mind, yet was so long ago.

Again, I apologize. I was meaning to generalize toward those younger than me who I am worried about, though that's not much better of me- not all of them, just the ones I fear don't get it. Another primary or two and I will reevaluate.

[PufPuf23]

11. Fact: I have been a Democrat longer than Hillary Clinton.

I am younger, born 1953.

I have always registered and voted Democrat with one exception.

My first POTUS vote was for McGovern in 1972.

I was too young to vote in 1968 but went to rallies in San Francisco for Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace. I went as a protestor to the Humphrey and Wallace rallies, granted much different flavor of protester. I got to meet McCarthy and ate private meals with McCarthy and family members in the Clift Hotel when he campaigned in San Francisco. I was 15.

I graduated high school when Nixon was POTUS.

I registered GOP in 1980 so I could vote in the GOP POTUS primary for John Anderson against Reagan.

I was a career Federal employee during Nixon, Ford (edit), Carter, and Reagan terms as POTUS.

Part of my time at Cal as an undergrad was when Reagan was CA Governor, graduated under Dukmajian(sp).

I was a grad student at Cal after resigning from the Feds when Reagan was POTUS.

In the last several days I have realized that Hillary Clinton reminds me of Richard Nixon more than any other politician in policy and manner.

I have been a Democrat longer than Hillary Clinton and have not wavered.

The Democratic Party has been at war between the party of FDR and neo-liberals for the last generation.

I am a member of the party of FDR.

[silvershadow]

13. As am I. Based on the response previous, I can only assume the younger generations just think

this stuff falls from trees.

[PufPuf23]

14. Folks that do not recall a pre-Reagan or pre-9/11 world have a different idea of POTUS.

Some folks are willfully ignorant.

Bernie Sanders is campaigning the most like FDR in policy of any POTUS candidate since I have been of age to vote.

I was slow to warm to POTUS Obama then went full throttle only to be disappointed because he is more neo-liberal as POTUS than how he campaigned.

That said, POTUS Obama has been a successful POTUS and a man to admire.

Hillary Clinton at best will be a worst POTUS than Obama and probably Bill Clinton too.

I was touched by your declaration and mirrored and expanded. Thanks.

[silvershadow]

15. Thank you. I agree with you. Sanders is the best candidate in my lifetime to articulate the

traditional views of the party, including strong support for labor, in my lifetime. These young folk may be fooled, but I am not, and they apparently believe themselves. It is only sad how hollow their arguments ring to my ears. I guess they think by saying something, that makes it true.

[Aerows]

17. I'm a shade too young

to state that, but in my heart, I have always been a Democrat.

[silvershadow]

18. Well, take it from your elder, who remembers. :D nt

[Aerows]

19. We all need these

[karynnj]

21. In 2013, the first Burlington Democratic event had Howard Dean

One thing he said, when introducing the mayor, the first Democratic one since Bernie was elected, is that Bernie's influence changed the Vermont democratic party for the better moving it to the left. He spoke of having voted for the Democratic incumbent, but first realizing Bernie had a chance when his mailman spoke highly of him.

Bernie caucuses with the Democrats in Congress from the moment he was elected. This election cycle, you might notice that Clinton moved to many of his positions. He moved slightly towards her position on guns. Just as Dean, who was and is a resident of Burlington credited Bernie with changing Democratic politics to being more open and progressive, he has already done so in this election. Imagine the, likely already ended primary, that would have happened without him.