I recently diaried about the fact that I had realized that I am now a "Dem by default", because the I can never vote for a Repug again - or at least not for the forseeable future. In the ninties I voted for the "person", but now I have only one instrument to fight the Repugs as flawed as it is, the Democratic party.
Added to that, I have realized in the last few days that I am now in it for the long haul. Like many others, I was never very politically active until Bush radicalized me. I got involved in the Dean campaign in May '03, after thinking if Bush got re-elected I would have to leave the country.
My thought at the time was to do everything I could to get Dean into office, but I did not think of it as a permenent change. I thought if we could get him into office things would get back to normal and I could resume my old life - ie... not eat, breath, and shit "politics". Or as I thought about it, I would have a life again.
I just voted today in a special election for state rep, after noticing yard signs for several weeks posted in a Deaniac yard for one of the candidates. I knew nothing about the candidates, but if a Dean Dem liked this guy, so did I. I never voted in any election other than a general election prior to this year's primary.
I guess somewhere along the way I stopped resenting losing my old life, and have accepted the fact that my life if forever changed. I will always keep a watchful eye on what my "represntatives" are doing, I will always give money to candidates I believe in, and be much more active than I ever expected to be. Maybe I should have taken the blue pill, but there is no way back now.
I am no longer just an American, I have become a citizen.
And oh yeah, if the repugs manage to destroy my livelyhood (I am a therapist in a community health center) by defunding social services, I figured out what I will do instead. Go into politics full time!