VDH

Why a Democrat?: "I was born to Democratic parents, themselves children of Democratic parents, part of a tradition of conservative California small farmers of six generations here in Selma, a social group who tried to organize cooperatives and bargain for fair prices. In some local cases, from time to time I still can vote for candidates who reflect that conservative Democratic viewpoint. But on the national scene the Democratic Party is now represented by Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and others. And so it is mortgaged to the Daily Kos, Michael Moore, and an extremist wing, in the sense it either cannot or will not speak out against the over-the-top slander, whether comparing our troops to terrorists, Saddamites, or Nazis, or suggesting a sitting President is amused by soldiers’ heads being blown off. Their worldview is not mine, and I haven’t been able to vote for a national or statewide Democratic candidate in number of years. That said, some of my best friends, most of my family, and a lot of my colleagues are Democrats, and we try either not to discuss politics, or do so in the spirit that these difference pale to our commonality as Americans. Why not change registration? Partly laziness, and partly just habit. Or maybe it’s nostalgia for politics from my grandfather, who loved Harry Truman."