I voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election.
Before you freak out, allow me to explain.
Let me start off by saying that typing that statement makes me feel embarassed and ashamed. I don't know if I should feel that way, but I do. I voted based on my life experience up to that point. I was raised by a mother who was from Hamlet, NC. Heard of it? Probably not, but that's exactly the point. My grandparents on her side were both extremely conservative. My Papa loved Ronald Raegan, and I loved my Papa so much that I loved anything he loved. What's funny is that I consider my mother kind of a rogue Republican, every now and then she'll surprise me and vote for a Democrat. My father served in the United States Army for 22 years before retiring. He still works for the military as a civilian contractor. He was born in Canada, but his patriotism for America runs deep. After seeing him off to war a few times during the first Bush presidency, well, I just adopted a lot of his political views too, which happen to be quite conservative.
More after the jump...
Politics wasn't something that was discussed often in my house growing up. I remember my Papa (who was also an Army veteran) talking with my dad about wars and such a few times, but that's about it.
Being raised mostly in North Carolina by a fairly conservative family, I guess it isn't too terribly surprising that I ended up calling myself a Republican by the time I graduated from high school. When I went off to college in 1999 at North Carolina State University (which is a pretty conservative campus even though it is located in the state capital of Raleigh which boasts very numbers of residents with higher education degrees) I felt pretty much at home with my awesome roommate Jessica, who was from a little town called Gastonia and talked with more of a twang than I did! All of my suitemates were politically conservative as well. As the 2000 election approached, we even had stickers on our dorm room door proclaiming our support for Bush/Cheney.
This was the first presidential election I'd ever voted in, and I was excited. It was thrilling to finally be able to participate the way I'd always seen my mom do in the booth when I was little. So, I cast my vote for Bush and went back to my dorm room feeling like a responsible American citizen. Over the next week or two my suitemates and I watched the Florida mess unfold on television. When Bush was proclaimed the President-elect we were thrilled. We even cheered.
In the 2000-2001 school year I started becoming incredibly interested in politics, and declared Political Science my major. I decided I wanted to intern in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2001. The mother of one of my friends knew the Chief of Staff in Mike McIntyre's DC office. I was in! He was the representative for the congressional district where I grew up, and I was psyched about spending a summer in Washington. Mr. McIntyre is a conservative Democrat, btw, and even though we differ more in our political points of view now, I have to take a moment to say what a great man he was to me and how much of an opportunity he gave me by taking me to so many events and speeches with him. I even got to see George W. Bush give a speech in person, which at the time was just amazing to me. I still get Christmas cards from Mr. McIntyre every year.
So, I get up there and settle into my "dorm" on the campus of George Washington University. My roommate was very liberal, but I liked her a lot. There was a pretty even split between Republicans and Democrats on our floor, and we all had a good time together. My roommate would rant and rave about how terrible Bush was, and I'd just keep my mouth shut. I was there to make friends after all- plus I had to live with her and well, I wanted it to be as smooth as possible.
The person who really got to me was Carol. She was the administrative assistant in Mr. McIntyre's office and she was awesome. She was a slightly older lady, but full of spunk and character. One day we were talking about the office and how pleasant it was to work there and she said something along the lines of, "Mike is great but she's just not liberal enough for me." I was kind of surprised. I had never known an older person to declare themselves a liberal. Don't laugh! Remember my family I described earlier? Anyway, we would get to talking and she would go off about WHY Bush's policies were so bad (in contrast to my roommate who would just kind of rant without much substance). I really liked Carol, and what she said mattered to me. Slowly I began opening my mind to the "other side's" point of view. I found an inherent connection with a lot of what she said. After all, I had lived in Europe for three years at this point, and seen so many different people and places how could I not connect with all of this?
Gradually, over the course of two months I started to feel different. I started to feel like I had been mistaken for my entire life; that I had it wrong. I was able to meet Ted Kennedy (very briefly) and had my picture taken with John McCain (whom I really adored back then) and something in me just started to make more sense of it all. I was thinking more complexly about issues, and we all know what happens when you do that- you become a Democrat!
So after I returned home I switched my voter registration to the big "D" and became more involved with every year that passed. Fast forward to 2008, and I am a proud member of the progressive movement.
There are only a few people in the world that I've told I voted for Bush in 2000; my suitemates at the time, my parents, and my fiance. This will be quite a shock for a lot of people, but I wanted to share my story because people can and do change. All it takes is an open mind and respectful, honest conversations with smart people. So next time you meet a young conservative, don't give up on them just yet. You never know how you might impact the rest of their lives by sharing your story and listening to theirs. Thank you Carol.
This is my first diary on kos, though I've been reading for years. I would like to dedicate it to Tim Russert, who touched my life and whom I miss already.