I have a confession to make.

[latteromden]

I'm a little delusional for flu and fever, so this might not be the sort of stuff I want to be confessing (just kidding!), but bear with me.

Back in 2001, I was one of those real hardcore "support the President at any cost" types. I cried the first time I heard Toby Keith's boot-in-your-ass song. I was pissed off at the Dixie Chicks for being ashamed of Bush. I thought they had no right to say that (obviously, I had not studied the Constitution as thoroughly as I should have, because not only did they have the right to say it, they had the Constitutionally guaranteed right to say it).

Ironically, I'd been a Gore supporter in the 2000 election. But it seems the propaganda just got to me.

Then came the Iraq War. I'd snapped out of my Fox News-induced state of blind support for Bush that I'd adopted, and I remember hearing, for the first time, that we were at war with Iraq. I was PISSED. More so than I had been at the Dixie Chicks. But you know what? I, foolishly, started listening to Republicans again. I knew, in my heart, that Saddam had NOTHING to do with 9/11, was no imminent threat to us as a nation, and that Iraq should be not been invaded. But, after a while, I decided that it was a "necessary evil."

I could argue that I was impaired by the fact that I was... well, I was 11 years old in 2001. I subscribed to the propaganda.

Come on, I know I'm not the only one who's done ridiculously stupid things like this. 'Fess up!

[JI7]

1. were you mostly an apolitical type ?

the type that would vote but you weren't a partisan democrat or republican ? that you could vote either way and would accept whoever won without thinking much about it ?

[latteromden]

2. Well, putting aside that I couldn't vote ;) I was actually a pretty

partisan Democrat. Which is why I'm so ashamed. :X

[JI7]

5. well, you can be excused for being young

i can say the same thing with Clinton. i'm 26 now. but around high school when he first came into office and all the crap against with i would actually wonder if there was something to it.

but with time and just from learning more i saw what the right wing was all about and i'm pretty good at seeing through their crap.

i think when you are young or just anyone else who hasn't been aware of politics much you want to believe the best or at least that someone who is President can't be that bad. you hope everyone is a good person and it's just a matter of disagreements on some issues although the goals are the same.

you seem to be learning earlier than i did though so that's good.

[two gun sid]

3. I still cry when I hear Toby Keith sing the boot in your ass song

To know that no talent puke is makin' money off of the deaths of so many people frustrates me to tears. I'd feel alto better if I could get a hold of him and stomp a mud hole in his butt with my work boots.

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Hell's bells you were ELEVEN???

Well at least you had that excuse. When I was 11, Reagan was in office and I didn't know WHAT the hell was going on.

[JI7]

6. Pappy Bush was pres when i was 11 but i thought Quayle was an idiot

even then. but i didn't care much overall. i just remember i almost 10 during the 1988 elections and thinking how if Quayle ever became president things would be a mess.

i wonder if Pappy Bush made Quayle his vp because he reminded him of his son.

[theorist]

7. Propaganda is meant for adults and children alike.

I was a couple months shy of 20 on 9/11. Considering the traumatizing effect it had on people my age, I can't imagine how it affected you and your peers.

Don't think of yourself as foolish, though. Consider yourself lucky that you figured this out before you became a voter. The deeper it gets, the harder it is to come back to your senses.

Think about it this way. It's easier to sell a cheap bill of goods to the underinformed. When I was in high school, I had little concern for what was going on: no war, good economy, decent schools. I'm inclined to believe that now, it's easier to convince students in public schools that the government is doing everything well and correctly. (Does your school have Channel 1?) Just do your best to inform your peers and don't be apologetic about it.

[RiseInside]

8. I was the same way.

Almost exactly. Except that I would have voted for Bush if I cared enough to vote.

I did support the war at the start. At that time I was enlisted in the Army and had not been send to boot camp and since what I was doing in the Army (infantry) was highly mentioned in the news it got me pumped. Well, off to the Army I went. And came home rather quickly (due to me having asthma and not telling them). Anyway, my brief time in Georgia completely changed my political beliefs. I started to see the world, Bush, the war in Iraq....for what it was. BS.

[Guaranteed]

14. WELCOME TO DU, RISEINSIDE!!!

:toast:

[Swamp Rat]

17. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[newyawker99]

21. Hi RiseInside!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[calimary]

27. Welcome to DU!

Glad you found your way out of the Dark Side, and then found your way here. Quite a journey you had.

[Up2Late]

9. When I was Eleven, Nixon had just been quit and Ford was the ...

new President. What the Hell? Go ride your bike or something. This is NOT a good time to get your first taste of Politics.

Go do your home work and/or go read some of the Classics, like "1984" and "Animal Farm" both by George Orwell about how screwed up Government can get, if we don't pay attention.

[latteromden]

10. Hmm, done, done, and done. ;) What's so bad about being politically

active at a young age (I'm fifteen now, by the way), anyway? My first REAL taste of politics was when I was six... Republicans have an awful hard time debating a six-year-old Clinton supporter, let me tell ya. ;)

[JI7]

11. oh no , it's a good thing to be active in politics at a young age

you can influence your parents and other grownups to vote in certain ways.

Kerry campaigned a lot at grade schools where kids aren't old enough to vote. and i think it helped because his speaking on education gets kids to tell parents about it. parents how otherwise would be too busy to do research or pay attention learn things from kids during times such as dinner or just driving home together and then go out and vote.

[Up2Late]

12. Well then, have you started your Website yet?

Lot's of kids, ages 11-16, have political activist websites. It could be good experience for your first "real" job in a few years. :think:

Just remember, the "so called" Republicans, that are on T.V. these days, are Lying about 95% of the time.:evilgrin:

[latteromden]

13. Close enough - I'm also doing graphic design work for candidates I work

for here in Minnesota. What can I say, I got started early!

Oh, but I'd beg to differ - the bastards have just GOT to be lying more than 95% of the time. ;)

[Up2Late]

15. Hey, It's 5:00am Why aren't you in Bed?

:wtf:You're 15, get some sleep!

[latteromden]

16. Sick! Sleeping until 4 PM will keep you up until 5 AM, I s'ppose.

Edit: So, it took me a good two minutes to realise the irony of what you just said and how it just doesn't seem to fit with your username. ;)

[Jamastiene]

18. I'm thinking...

Well, I have always said if Robin Hayes or one of those other local Repugs that rules this area were to pay me loads of money, I'd vote for them. By doing that I would probably feel like such a sellout, but not for long. My reasoning is that if it was enough money to help me move out of this area, then I could go live in a better state like California with Dems worth supporting and damn good Dems at that, instead of Dixiecrats like I have to pick from locally. I hate it here so much that I'd willingly do that. If anyone is pissed at me for that here, please take a closer look at North Carolina politics. We have very few liberal democrats and the Repugs win by practical landslides the majority of the time in my area. I wouldn't be hurting anyone really if I was to do that just once to get me the hell out of here before I get too much crazier.

[American Tragedy]

19. I totally sympathize, Jamastiene

I understand the philosophy of the 50-state campaign, but I cannot help but feel that there are some states that are just damned near hopeless. For long-term political strategy, many of us would do far better if we relocated our talents and votes to blue and purple states.

Unfortunately, as you've observed, it's an expensive endeavor.

[leyton]

23. Hayes is my congressman too!

Please stay in NC - I'm going to college next year, but I intend to eventually return to the South and spread the liberal gospel. If all the liberals leave, the South will never be blue.

[Jamastiene]

25. You know I used to think that way too, but

life here is unbearable for me. I am never going to be happy as long as I live here. Right now as we speak I am in college and I am being targeted because my political views are not conservative. I mean I am less that 3 months from graduating from one curriculum and hoping to get a degree in computer something, haven't decided yet, and they are making it so hard on me that I don't even want to stay long enough to finish. And if I do, they'll find some way to take my position as the student with the highest grades away. The bottom line is that there is just no fucking way I can stay in a place as devoid of intelligence, compassion, hope, opportunities, and a nice selection of gay women to meet so I won't have to spend the rest of my life alone and lonely. This place has already taken its toll on me emotionally and it's working on killing my mind now. The damage is beyond what most people are aware of and I can't take this bullshit any more. I have to find some way out. I can't stand the thought of being trapped here the rest of my life. Sorry, that's just the conclusion I have come to. I used to think just like you are thinking on the subject of staying and fighting, but with no one close by to be friends with and spend time with, my life is hell. I want to die every fucking day and every night I pray I won't wake up. I'd rather get a fresh start and a chance. What colleg are you planning on going to? If it is RCC, I hope you have a better experience than I have had. Being a lesbian and having even the psychology teacher try to make you go to the next county over and be brainwashed by a nutcase cop who practices psycho hypnotism and who wants to "straighten" me out isn't my idea of something possible to fix. This place is unfixable and even the ones who say they aren't homophobic are homophobic. I hate North Carolina with every fiber of my being. There are some good people here, but I am not connected and it leaves me sitting here in front of the computer night after night. If it wasn't for DU right now, I'd be at the court house getting a gun permit to take care of my situation once and for all. Period. If it was any easier and someone offered to do it for me, I'd thank them and try to come up with something to offer them for their compassion and generosity. That's the sad thing about it. Someone like Matthew Shepherd who was nice looking well loved and cool gets bludgeoned to death and someone like me who prays for death because of how hopeless my chances are lives. There is no justice. It should have been me. It would have certainly been easier to take than my rape was. I have been the victim of one homocide attempt with a hammer, but of course it didn't work because it caught me off guard. I have been beat up before too and to be totally honest at this point I prefer the physical beatings to the mind rape from therapists I don't need all because I don't agree politically with the people around me. There truly is no justice and couldn't possibly be a loving God. Otherwise, I'd get the miracle I have been praying for for over 20 years now. Fuck North Carolina and the lifestyle nazis who control it. It's not worth trying to save.

[schrodingers_cat]

26. Keep your eye on the future, Jam......

this too will pass.......faith isn't just for the religious ones. And don't believe that the rest of the world is as wacko as your current one. stay strong and don't abandon your values (or your education), then choose the world where you WANT to live. It's out there and it's fun!
:pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals:

[Skittles]

20. sorry,, republicans have NEVER fooled me

not EVER. Seemingly some of us are simply immune conservative propaganda.

[DARE to HOPE]

22. This flu is tenacious! Go to bed, son!! :-)

At the same time, you make my heart sing. :-)

Okay, I'll 'fess up--I was 21, the first election they would even let 18 year-olds vote, Nixon v. McGovern. I voted as did my parents and everyone else I knew: President Nixon SAID he was going to end the war, after all.

Well, McGovern was lied about like Kerry and Gore in the last two elections, only we had not yet lived through Watergate, so only the most clued in, and traditionally Democratic families, believed him.

Well, the man who became my husband was scoffing at the President some six months later in the college student lounge and made me quite upset. I COULD NOT BELIEVE all the wicked things I was hearing--about the President of our country!

Living through history does change hearts and minds, and we learned a whole lot in the 1960's through the 1970's. My Dad wanted to drag me home from UW due to all the unrest.

But I was 15 in 1966, only three years after JKF's death, yet two before all the others. All of this was so UNTHINKABLE--though I NEVER believed Oswald acted alone. And just as you see in Stone's movie, as MLK, RFK, even Malcolm, were killed, an ill feeling began to dawn.

The "tear gas years" tore a lot of families apart. Our fathers were all WWII vets, scoffing at my generation's fear of the draft. My own journey was to somehow convince my sexist father that a girl could be as brilliant as the boys.

But both my husband and I look back on that time with affection and respect. For the creative, wide ranging, intellectual foment was a thrilling time to come of age. And I do think that is what is waiting for YOU.

What you really need to do, if you don't mind some advice: get yourself attached to a spiritual tradition through which you can create a conscientious objector file. All the churches that are "mainstream," from the Methodist to the R Catholic, have a standard called the "just war" standard, which Bush has violated. Keep a journal, or some kind of record, of anti-war thoughts you have, speeches that you make, et al, in case your draft board comes calling.

Doesn't hurt to know some elected officials if the time comes, so best of luck in Minnesota! Blessed Paul Wellstone--we loved him in Illinois, too.

You will make good friends and have a good time in your political adventures. Just keep your eye on the prize, remembering school, college, law school or something else if you plan to run for office some day. I at one time worked for Paul Simon, our Senator here in Illinois, and (now Congressman) Rahm Emmanuel was my little gopher, advance guy for Paul on the campaign trail. :-) Just look what can happen.

Best that you do find your inner soul now, latteromden. The political world, even for a moral guy like Simon, is a tough place to hang it all out there if you don't know who you are well before that time. God bless.

[leyton]

24. You're not alone.

Well, I never really liked George Bush, though I tend to be optimistic so I gave him the benefit of the doubt until early 2002, and I still give him a smidgen more deference than DUers (only on little stuff though ;-) ). But I was also somewhat concerned about WMD in Iraq - I thought they were there, and I thought we were justified in getting them out. Of course, then the rhetoric became "freedom" (and other things) and I realized that the war was the ol' bait-n-switch. And the more history classes I take, the more I think that wars are never about what leaders say they are. When they say Christianity and Civilization and Democracy they really mean Gold and Oil and Capitalism.

[Senator Lamb]

28. me too me too

hard core Democrat and Al GOre supporter, yet always more moderate than most Dems. then 9/11 came and with that the patriotism, Fox News, Support the President, and Talk Radio. I was also very supportive of the Iraq War but then I just snapped out of it when they were doing things that I just could not support. now im more liberal and aware of the issues, Im also older.