And, for my 1000th post...

This post marks my entry into the not-so-elite group of DUers whose post count isn’t quite so exact anymore. 1000+ is the only number needed, as if to say “It’s a lot – does the exact number really matter?”

On this, the not-so-momentous occasion of my thousandth DU post, I thought I would answer a question I’ve been asked quite a few times over the last few years here:

Why I am a Democrat.

I am a Democrat because I fear a Christian theocracy here as much as I fear Islamic theocracies abroad.

I am a Democrat because I recognize that the wealthy in society derive much more benefit from a strong, stable government than do the poor, and should thus pay more to support the government from which their continued wealth is derived.

I am a Democrat because I believe that the allowing the Federal deficit to continue to rise is nothing more than a theft from my daughter, and everyone of her generation. It is a tax on her future income, incurred at a time where she is still to young to have a political voice of her own. It is immoral, and balancing the Federal budget and paying down the national debt should be our highest national priority.

I am a Democrat because I am offended by the idea that our government grants dozens of special rights and privileges to those people in the certain favored class of relationship the government currently chooses to sanction.

I am a Democrat because I believe that our government should not have the power to legally kill its citizens.

I am a Democrat because I believe that reproductive decisions should be left to a woman and her doctor.

I am a Democrat because I believe that the right of habeas corpus is inalienable, and that we have no business referring to ourselves as a “free” country as long as our government has the ability to make any one of us disappear – without charges, a trial, or anything else other than the whim of a politician.

I am a Democrat because I believe that military force should be used as an absolute last resort, when all other alternatives have been exhausted. To use our military otherwise treats our men and women in uniform as nothing more than cannon fodder.

I am a Democrat because I believe that the first, fourth, fifth, eighth, fourteenth, and sixteenth amendments to the US Constitution are just as important as the second.

Speaking of the second amendment, I am a Democrat because I do not have an inexplicable blind spot to the words “well regulated militia”.

On the other hand, just because I am a Democrat does not mean that I will not recognize when a Republican does the right thing, and it won’t keep me from going after Democrats when they screw up. Simply put, I hold Democratic politicians and pundits to a higher standard of honesty than I do the Republicans, because I expect more from Democrats.

There are some issues on which I am less than “ideologically pure”, as I have seen it called here on Democratic Underground. Some of my opinions have gotten me pretty well roasted around here, but they’re sincerely held. I’ve been called a right-winger, a neocon, and a freeper on more occasions than I can remember. I don’t take it too personally, though. People have strong opinions about their ideas, and it’s natural to react strongly when those opinions are challenged. I know, though, that on every election day, I proudly walk up to the ballot box and vote for Democrats, and that’s all that matters to me.

Thanks, DU, for putting up with 1000 of my posts.

Congrats! :toast: and here's to posting many more.

multitude of times, it means you're probably not thinking for yourself. Being called a freeper, troll, right winger, blah blah friggin blah, is the most certain way to know you are an individual here with your own objectivity.

Congrats on your 1000th from a fellow proud Dem!

:toast:

Hehe, thanks.

I've kinda figured out that "freeper" is the new "Nazi". When someone accuses you of being one, it's only because they're out of logical arguments ;) :+

Here's to many, many more! :toast:
Great post. :headbang:
:smoke:

I feel the same way. I especially loathe the death penalty

It makes us barbarians. I will never understand why we do that.

Life in prison is a nasty hopeless life.

Anyway, wonderful post


:thumbsup: :hi: :kick:

My problem with the death penalty is twofold. First, to allow the government that power you must first believe that government is completely infallible. Clearly, that is not the case. My second problem with the DP is that it's too easy. There are some people who commit crimes so heinous that sticking a needle in their arm and letting them drift off to an utterly painless death is not punishment commensurate with their crime. Letting someone rot in the Supermax prison in Colorado for about 40 or 50 years is far more fearsome, and, if it turns out that the government screwed up, it's still reversible.

Anyway - thanks...