Posted on 07/04/2006 4:50:08 AM PDT by HansGygi
Many ex-Dems, like me, woke up one day to find out that they were Republicans. For me, Clinton was the last straw. I come from a family of strong Democrats and it had become ingrained in me to be one. It's like being a member of a sports team. Your team might be making foolish trades or using the wrong game strategy, but it's still your team. And you hope your team will right (no pun intended) itself one day.
But over the years I found myself disagreeing more and more with what the Dems stood for. I never did vote for McGovern (too leftist), but I voted for all the other clowns after him. Luckily Clinton came along, and I had no problem finally divorcing myself from my old "team".
You're a great thinker and a good man, Pilipo!!!
Yes, Kennedy and Johnson got us into it, but the fact that it ended while Nixon was in the White House allowed the Nixon hating press to cover for Kennedy and Johnson, and made it "Nixon's War." I was 10 years old in 1972, and I remember thinking that it was "Nixon's War" myself. But then, I was only 10. I managed to learn to think when I grew up. I've still got liberal friends and family memebers (all adults) who still think that it was "Nixon's War."
Mark
["I was surprised by the furor it caused from the likes of Frank Zappa"
"Why are we outlawing words - they are only WORDS".]
"Ah, another of the things they just don't get - no one was outlawing anything, just warning us of its existence."
Actually, I agreed with Frank - Gore would have virtually eliminated the distribution of lots of stuff I liked - as it was, Zappa had to resort to direct market and the world waws denied free access to such great commentary as "Disco Boy" and "Illinois Enema Bandit"
Great post. I used to be a liberal-democrat, too.
Thanks to my husband (scan59) and Free Republic (during the Elian Gonzales tragedy), I finally came out of it.
Thank you for your kindness. Have a great Independence Day!
Don't worry so much. I was in high school on the first earth day. The left was giving it everything they had back then, and lots of young people bought into it... for a while.
Brainwashing doesn't work, at least not in America. Rebellion is too much a part of us. There are too many alternate sources of information.
It's hard for people who didn't grow up in the '60s and early '70s (much of what is called "the sixties" actually happened in the period from 1970 till about 1974, when Nixon was driven from office) to realize how totally pervasive the counterculture became during those times. In movies, on TV, on the radio... even the commercials, even the public faces of the biggest consumer products corporations in the world... from every direction, came the message: you are a new generation... your parents are phonies... everything you've been taught about America is a lie... tear it all down and start again, we at the Coca-Cola company are pulling for you!
Guess what? It didn't work. A lot of the kids who went through that went on to pull the lever for Ronald Reagan, if not in 1980, then in 1984.
I have total confidence that the kids today are no different. Even the ones with the piercings and the tattoos... don't conclude too much from appearances.
As I've said here before, America is the greatest teaching machine, the greatest tool for discovering the truth, in human history. Every day, the lessons of human nature are revealed to millions through the functioning of democracy and freedom here in America.
Our success results from the degree to which our founding fathers understood human nature, which will never change. Kids today are no different from kids 35 years ago, or from kids who will be born in 2026.
(steely)
I'm fortunate...I've always believed in keeping the $$$$ I earn...screw Dems...
I voted for Nixon.
In 1976 I still had some liberal leanings in me. But, I voted for Ford. When Carter got elected, I predicted just about every move he would make, especially in the middle east. Having been a liberal I know very well how they behave and act. When Carter proved me right, I got shoved completely into the right, into conservatism. I knew after Carter that I could never again be a liberal or democrat.
"A true liberal today is a combination of socialist, fascist, and hypocrite. They are also rabidly anti-America!"
That is excellent tagline material. See-- -- -- -- -- -- -- ->
Fantastic piece. Thanks for posting it.
RE:Dems,"I don't know how these people can stand themselves."A combination of arrogance and ignorance.
What concerns me is knowing millions of public school kids are being brainwashed into becoming good little socialists....uh, excuse me....liberals.....and I'm wondering what kind of voting block they're going to present in a decade or two.
85% of the Christian kids attending public schools are losing their faith by high school graduation. We fool ourselves if we believe conservative principles will continue to prosper once the majority of voters become politically correct robots.
Wow, great post, USA Girl. Of course, the fact that my wife and I have homeschooled our daughter through 12 years - she just graduated - might have something to do with my enthusiasm for your post. It vindicates our efforts. It has really been a tough 12 years, but it is worth every bit of the toil and committment.
Behold the power of the lapdog media. At the time, there were no other news outlets than the 3 major networks. They HATED Nixon, mainly because he dared to fight back against the North Vietnamese, and Communism in SouthEast Asia, and they couldn't have that! They generated negativity toward the war with their nightly body bag counts, and almost NEVER said anything positive about the war. They presented the Tet Offensive as a DEFEAT for America rather than the victory it actually was.
I guess Nixon got tired of dealing with the defeatist politicians and tried to broker a peace deal. Even THAT was undermined by the likes of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy with their behind the backs negotiations with the North Vitnamese Communists at the Paris Peace talks.
Then with Watergate, Nixon became the boogey-man par excellence, and that has stuck.
I speak from experience.
Over the years I have taken precarious positions in equities and often I had taken enormous hits on my investmens.
Today, however: the IRS takes proud psssession of the gains that we have "collectively" made!
Taking away the gains of investors truthfully is communistic!
What the ^*&( is that about? Hey! President -- I want an investigation on why the sun sets in the west!
The lunatics would run the asylum.
The only democrat I could ever see myself voting for in the history would be perhaps John Kennedy. I was not even born yet, but everyone loved him and he was Catholic and seemed to be a great president. However, I have not voted for a democrat in my life (beginning to vote in 1988) because their has not been an even close Kennedy. All the dems are into this abortion thing and that turns me off right away.
bttt
I was never a leftist, but I used to be a "middle of the road" Republican.
It was primarily the economic transformations accomplished by Reagan and Thatcher, and their success against "the evil empire," that got my attention. At least these things redirected my attention, and stimulating my reading and other studies, to the point that I eventually became a convinced conservative.
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