I'm late to the game in paying attention to the Protect IP Act. I'll admit that. I've been watching other things. I've tried to keep a promise to myself that I would not get too emotionally involved in any issue, mostly because I still haven't fully recovered from the emotional tailspin caused by last Administration. But the Occupy movement has re-kindled my political fervor after a fashion.
The economy has kept my attention on personal matters until all that stuff happened in Zuccotti Park. That's when I realized that I better get back in the game. I started signing online petitions again. I started joining the websites where I merely lurked so I could make my comments on issues that concerned me. I even went and donated to a political campaign outside of my home state. Until now, fracking and Keystone XL were the two issues that really held my attention. But when I discovered exactly who supported SOPA and PIPA, I got angry.
I've been a Californian since 1989. The last time I got this angry was when they recalled Gray Davis and my fellow Californians voted in the Austrian Alp into the governor's office. I just learned that my two senators, Boxer and Feinstein, both support PIPA, as does Franken of Minnesota. Yesterday, I sent two very nasty emails to my senators telling them them that their support of this legislation made me ashamed to be a Dem. Franken got a piece of my mind too. I'm more upset that Sen. Boxer is pro-PIPA than I am with Feinstein. Diane has always disappointed me, but I was proud to have Barbara as a senator until now.
Every year, it is getting more and more difficult to remain registered as a Democrat. I never seem to find that singleness of purpose that I see in the GOP. My first ever vote was cast as an Independent. I may be older and wiser today, and even though I would never in a million years switch my allegiance to the republican party, I'm finding fewer and fewer reasons to confine myself to a party that no longer speaks for me.