I was born and raised as a Republican, though I was not registered to vote till after Reagan got in office, and after my contract in the Marines was completed. I listened to talk radio and Rush Limbaugh from about 1987 to about 1997. So what changed and made me a Democrat and nearly a Delegate at this year’s convention?
Towards the end of the 1980's my wife and I had a produce store, a hobby farm and 2 full time jobs. As an adult with so many responsibilities I was learning fast, and I was developing great reasoning skills. I started to find things wrong in what was being said on talk radio. I found that if you want to get on a talk radio show, you have to fit one of two requirements; agree with them with out seeming psychotic, or disagree with them in a lame way that makes their opposition look bad. They will not air a solid argument against themselves because truth has nothing to do with their message. I found that level of deceit deplorable, but never detected it before I grew an open mind and listened to both sides. I was capable of good thinking, but was never in a position to try it.
In the late 1990's I went back to school and studied many things but loaded heavily in Economics coursework. During the first campaign of Lil' Bush, I was phoned by a GOTV Republican party volunteer. I said I wasn't voting for them because it was too much Texas Oil power in one area and that if they won something would happen that would raise the prices of fuel such that Texan's would be able to profit again on their local oil production. I may be a little off, but it was kind of prophetic if not just openly cynical. That volunteer treated me so badly on the phone that I wondered what I was doing in the same party.
I felt like the Democrats had little to offer me at that time. This is because of the persistence of propaganda in the human mind. Old thoughts in the human mind that were learned well remain intact until overwhelming new evidence proves them wrong. Thus I had only heard all of what's wrong with Democrats. That is not an easy hurdle for an ordinary person to get over, and mental assaults don't work; if you meet a person like I was, try calm discussion with the proper rules of debate. If the discussion becomes heated, our brains get into defensive positions and loose the ability to think rationally.
I went to the Denver convention and found that everything I ever heard about Democrats was a lie. I watched the Republican convention and now I am embarrassed that I was ever associated with them; I know good Republicans, but those people are not in any position of power. I'd really like an opportunity to punch a lot of those jack-asses in the face that control the Republican Party.
As a mathematician of sorts, I advise you to whenever you get to discuss anything with potential opponents or undecided voters, get their definitions of what they say they are. As I said in the beginning, I was raised a Republican, but hearing Senator Wexler of Florida go on about fire breathing Liberals, I heard the definition of a Liberal for the first time and realized I have always thought like a Liberal, and I was only against them because I held a mistaken definition of Liberal in my head. Find out what the person you are talking to really wants to happen and you may find out they are on your side, but they don't know it yet.
Good luck to you all, and remember change a mind = change a vote, and that one changed vote = a gain of 2 votes at the booth. The worst you can hope for is an opponent looses their enthusiasm when you shed the light of truth and they stay home on voting day.
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