Yesterday it rained inside my kid’s school. Shitty old building, flat roof, no money for a new facility without a referendum...that’s how Scott Walker likes ‘em. Kind of symbolic since the world of educators was crying over the Devos confirmation. I am vocal about my political views on FB lately — I don’t Like and Share every Occupy Democrats post or anything but I do post regularly about the BS I see in my state and my country.
So I posted this pic of the trash bins catching the rain coming in through the ceiling that my daughter texted me with a little paragraph about how I don’t understand why adequate school funding is a controversial issue. I mentioned that it is the one place in our community where people come together each day from all walks of life, when a flood or tornado takes out a town the school is where people go to get shelter or regroup, our kids spend 12 years of their lives there and our neighbors work there.
Holy crap.
People came out of the woodwork to Like it...people I didn’t even realize I was still Facebook Friends with. Family members I KNOW vote for the GOP were reacting with Sad faces.
It made me realize once again I’m proud to be a Democrat. Truly. I pay my dues, I volunteer with my county party and I believe in the legislation we support, the candidates we put on the ballot and the vision we have for this country. What makes me a Democrat before anything else is the fact that I’m a Feminist and the Dems are the only chance I have at seeing 50% representation (even though we have a looooong way to go with literally double the amount male Democratic Senators and House Reps serving right now) for my grand daughters someday.
There are many on the Left that like to shit on the Dems all day for not doing enough, for being neoliberal, yadda yadda yadda but I’m not one of them. I believe that the party is what we make it, in our communities and in our states. Most of the people I know personally who are on the Left ideologically but sit on social media all day saying “Fuck the Dems! They don’t do enough! Sellouts!” aren’t really doing anything but that...now I know that isn’t true for all the people out there on the Left who are critical of the Party. I respect everyone’s grassroots work across the board — the Party can be annoying and maybe it isn’t your bag to be a part of it. But for me I see it as an effective place to put my efforts.
When I see Maxine Waters I am proud on so many levels. Love that woman. When I hear Elizabeth Warren cut short by Mitch Dumbass McConnell I think about her “You didn’t build that, we built that together” speech that got me fired up years ago. The last couple of nights I’ve been watching CSPAN till 2 AM, listening to our Dems discuss Justice. Listening to Cory Booker talk about Matthew Shepard last night I thought back to when that happened — I was just a kid but I understood inherently that one side of the aisle was actively fighting against that evil and the other side wanted to look the other way and tell my gay friends to go to church more.
I’m loud about being a Democrat because I want my kids and their friends to understand that same thing from a young age. They should know coming out of High School that the Democratic party is the party that will fight for Civil Rights, for the planet, for education and for justice. I don’t quite know exactly how to Resist the GOP agenda in congress but I know that our party leaders will do some things wrong and some things brilliantly and I’ll still be there for them, working to get it right next time either way. Nothing like being an underdog to get us fired up and ready to go.