General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When and how did you figure out that American Conservatism was a scam? [View all]MountCleaners
(1,148 posts)Everyone in my family was a Democrat when I was a kid. My parents campaigned for Carter and my mom met Carter at a Democratic function hosted by my cousin. My cousin worked for a Democrat congressman and was a convention delegate. My mom named me after Lyndon Johnson, even though they hated the Vietnam War. They liked everything else about him.
I thought the Republicans were the party of the rich, and no one's parents in my neighborhood or school voted Republican. I knew NO Republicans. Also as kids we thought that the Republicans were all like Nixon - people used to say that they were all crooks except for Ford. I went to a left-wing Catholic school and didn't know much about politics except that the Democrats were pro-union and I admired Martin Luther King and the American Indian Movement.
I thought maybe Reagan wouldn't be so bad, but then the race baiting started and I realized that the people were supporting Reagan because they were racists. Also I didn't like his stance versus the Soviet Union. So I hated him not long into his presidency. I hated the demonization of welfare recipients. I grew up Catholic, but the abortion and GLBT stuff didn't make sense to me. I also thought that all of the flag-waving stuff was corny. I considered becoming a communist just because Reagan and his supporters hated it so much.
By the time I graduated high school, I was pretty into the left and activism. I got involved in the Democratic Party and campaigned for Jesse Jackson.