I’d been a Democrat ever since I first registered to vote. I made that choice for the simple reason that my parents were both Democrats. For the vast majority of my life, I never really paid much attention to politics at all.
I’ve gone from disinterested to today, where I follow politics pretty closely, write this political blog, have posted short political videos on social media, even donated and volunteered for some campaigns. How did this happen?
This interest started to grow in 2008, when Barrack Obama ran to become the first Black president in history. It seemed really significant so I paid more attention, and I noticed something disturbing.
The campaign seemed to be about more than just the usual policy differences. You could feel a real hate toward Obama. We all know why – it was the color of his skin that allowed GOP demonization of him to become more vicious than usual. In the ensuing years my interest has continued to grow.
So, why switch? In short, it comes from my disgust of Democratic politics where I live – Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District. Because Erie County and the city of Erie have such a large registration advantage, candidates from there end up winning in the primaries.
Unfortunately, the last three hopefuls have been pretty bad. They’ve failed to offer thought-out, researched, powerful, effective, messaging that would (1) define their opponent, (2) contrast themself with their opponent, and (3) lay out their vision, reasons for running, and why they’re the better choice.
Watching Erie establish itself as the cradle of bad candidates and political operatives who apparently don’t know much about politics, and who get pretty defensive if you question them, led me to decide that I’m through with the Democrats here. Right or wrong, I don’t want to be part of it.
To be honest, I’m not saying I’m taking the right course. It’s just how I want to handle it.
I’m a 66-year-old white man and was a member of the Left-Center group of my former party. To tell you the truth, there’ve been times when it seems like the Progressive segment of the party doesn’t see any value in having people like me around.
One local political operative included in a Facebook post the term “boomer industrial complex.” I asked her what she meant, but she didn’t reply. I don’t think it was intended as a compliment.
The fact is Democrats need all segments of their party. That entails the need for all these folks to both compromise and not demonize. We’ll have to see how that goes. While Democrats enjoy watching the Republicans splinter apart, they’d better understand they could be in the same boat.
Considering they’re the only party that wants to actually govern, address climate change, move our country forward, and make its citizens’ lives better, that would be a disaster of epic proportions.
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Musings of a Nobody 