Reply #24: Amerika's story [View All]

[RevolutionStartsNow]

I have been interested in politics my whole life. My dad was a Goldwater Republican who was raised by a racist Repub (my grandfather, RIP) in Ohio, but he converted to Dem after he married my mom, who was raised in a Kennedy-worshipping Dem family.

My dad became active after his conversion, and I remember campaigning for local Dems in Santa Barbara. We were raised to be socially active, my cause was saving the baby harp seals.

We weren't well off because there were 6 kids (and later 8 when my mom married my stepdad who had his own 2). We always seemed to be struggling financially though not desperately so. Didn't help that we often lived in upper middle class areas and couldn't afford the nice cars and tennis lessons that the other kids seemed to have. Ate a lot of tuna and macaroni casserole. Now that I'm a parent I understand how hard it can be and how much money you really need to raise a family.

I remained politically active until I started raising my own family -- I've always been a registered Democrat, but in the last decade or so I drifted away from politics in apathy and disgust. I tried to stay abreast of the issues, but the Democratic party no longer seemed to represent my ideals, it seemed like Washington politics and partisanship got the best of most of them.

Now Dean. Now I'm back. I've been a supporter since May; I first looked at Kucinich and a bit at Edwards but Dean had me from the day I first heard him speak.

I am still raising my young family, and running my own business, but I have become extremely active on the campaign locally and devote a lot of time to ensuring that Dean gets the nomination and then the presidency.