Reply #55: Fellow Queensryche, Maiden fan [View All]

I was born in 1975. Grew up as a kid with Reagan and Bush and I thought they were good as I had and still have conservative Repug parents. However, in 1992 I watched the election all the way through on the news and came away transformed by the experience. I became much more moderate to liberal after that. Clinton seemed way more in touch with our generation than Bush did and he seemed young. I really liked Gore alot if not even more. Grew up with an older brother (born 1972) who was WAY into Metallica, Maiden, Megadeth, Queensryche. We were known in our neighborhood and at school as the heavy metal kids. Nickame in elementary school was "Metal Jenn". I think that music fueled our desire for revolution and change. Later on we got into Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine. My brother does not vote, it anti-government and pro-legalizing marijuana. I am more a "work the system type" and really got into politics and how it works. I feel I am fiscally conservative when it comes to wasting taxpayers money on such things as the Iraq war and pork barrel projects. But as my husband and I now have a 1 1/2 year old and 2 1/2 year old we find Health care to be expensive. It takes alot out of his monthly check from CT Light and Power and I am currently not working (but going back to school to teach preschool, have a psych degree already). We are on a very tight budget with one income but I dread putting the girls in daycare as so many kids from our generation were the first to be put in it and I don't think it was healthy. I want to be around my girls and know what is going on with them but its so tough staying home with all the bills we have. The environment means alot to me as well as we are destroying it for future generations and now that the girls are here it really hits home. And the cost of living is so out of bounds today. My Mom always said we had less than you but I tell her her that she did not have to go to school for 4 to 6 years just to get a halfway decent job. Prices have risen and not stayed current with wages. This has turned me into a very populist person. Thank God my husband is in a union because when he was in cust service at CL&P he was getting payed $14.00 an hour with a 4 year degree! Now he is out in the field and makes much more as the union negotiates a good pay for his department. I think having gay friends at college and at work made me very pro gay rights as well. If you have people you know who are gay, it makes you less likely to discriminate. Same thing with my African-American friends from college. I grew up in small rich town in CT and brought one of my friends from school to visit my family and he was given some really rude stares around town. Like they have never seen black people before! I do feel that although we are shaped by our generations it is personal experiences that dertermines if we will vote, how we will vote, and if we will be active in politics.