I sit on the sidelines in politics. Not in my views, not in how I discuss politics with my friends and family: I'm a vocal commentator of our political times when I'm with those who value my opinion, and sometimes even with those who don't. I haven't posted a DKos diary in many, many months, greatly because I felt I had little new to offer the site that wasn't already better said by more critical thinkers, more prosaic authors. I'm a registered unaffiliated voter in NC who is very liberal on both social and international issues, but who has long been disgusted by the sly, wink-wink politics of the old-school Dems. I'll vote for them, but I don't have to like that they fall short of many of the ideals I hold dear.
No, I rail from the sidelines to my friends, my family, about the injustices, dirty practices, and radical unfairness, often driven by diaries I've read here, often supported by the endless and tireless fact checking and typically reasoned, passionate debates herein. I write LTEs, I contact my elected officials, I do the small things on the backend that you never see, and frankly, you never will. Until today, however, I had never given one cent to any politician. Ever.
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