this is cool
so I still can't drive my journal....but this is where I got this from.....
http://community.livejournal.com/barackobama2008/223357.html?view=1953405
I liked it
Now, this is more of a "liberal" thing than an Obama thing, and I know that "Obama voter" and "liberal" are not always a 1-to-1 correlation, but also that a lot of politics-related family strife I've heard about this election season is not rooted simply in who relatives are voting for.
I was visiting my more conservative relatives earlier this year, and my uncle's girlfriend actually said she "might have to vote for Obama," which cheered me, but she also said she was afraid her brother would think she was a big liberal. This, of course, in "'liberal' is a dirty word" country. I told her she should introduce her brother to me, because she'd look like Bill O'Reilly by comparison. Her mother then squinted her beady eyes at me and asked if I was a Democrat. I told her I was a liberal -- that Democrats (meaning many Democratic politicians) weren't liberal enough for me.
Then I changed the subject, because it was my grandma's house and I was a guest. And it's a three-hour trip home.
But I later got to thinking about it: how did I come to be a liberal in the midst of a largely conservative family? I mean, my immediate family is more moderate, sure, but I'm pretty far left. And I realized that I formed my liberal opinions based on the values my family taught me.
And so I wrote this, hoping it might be useful folks who are in my boat:
I Thought You Meant It
I have friends of different races because when you taught me not to judge people based on how they look, I thought you meant it.
I respect other people's religious beliefs because when you taught me that a person's religion is between them and God, I thought you meant it.
I believe in universal health care and social assistance because when you taught me to be kind to those less fortunate than myself, and when you taught me that people are more important than money, I thought you meant it.
I support equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples because when you taught me that every person has the same human worth (and also to keep my nose out of other people's business), I thought you meant it.
I am environmentally conscious because when you taught me to take no more than I need, and to clean up after myself if I make a mess, I thought you meant it.
I support reproductive rights because when you taught me I shouldn't judge someone when I don't know what their circumstances are, I thought you meant it.
I am dismayed that you would call someone "elitist" merely because they are educated -- because when I became one of the first people in our family to earn a college degree, and you told me how proud I'd made you, I thought you meant it.
I am not ashamed if these things make me a liberal, because you taught me not to let other people belittle me about what I stand for, and I choose to believe you meant it.