Hi from a progressive stuck in conservative HELL

I'm from Alabama where it's hot as hell and full of too many stupid people. You'd probably be surprised by how many liberals actually live here but they are not very vocal due to the overwhelming number of wingnuts. I recently had a cousin on Facebook tell me that Obama is "evil" person who calls people "racist" and that I am a "baby killer." Another relative and I just had a good, long and civil debate about 'Obamacare' which revealed his reasons for opposing the law were based on misinformation and assumptions that ended up with me being blocked for no reason and no explanation. Needless to say, it's hard being a red state liberal!

I've been engaged in online advocacy through Facebook for several years but I have determined that is not a useful platform for politics. Too many haters and fact-free idiots who can't handle the truth. That's what led me to DU. After lurking for quite some time, I've found this to be a much more useful way to engage in civil discourse. I'm looking forward to contributing and learning more from you all. The issues matter a lot to me and I'm a tenacious fact-checker. Thanks for such a great online community of like-minded people!