RECENT STORIES

Seniors offered free help with fall cleaning ( Nichole Parmelly )
Race for the Cure - 62,000 strong and counting ( Dana Brandorff )
Police blotter: Large suspect robs bank ( Littleton Police Dept. )
Turpenoff Portrait Gallery's LOGO has Died! ( Tricia Turpenoff )
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month ( Kodi Bryant )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Littleton \\ Stories \\ Democratic Convention

Why I changed parties

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Dianne Lorang on 7/16/2008

I was never really a Republican anyway. I just had a Goldwater-Republican mother. In the 1960s, when TV networks covered the conventions day and night, we would watch the Republican ones but never the Democrats. When Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy were assassinated in 1968, I tried to watch the coverage, but my mother turned off the "boob tube." Still, those events must have been the beginnings of my eventually becoming a Democrat.

My first experience voting was in the 1972 Montana primary. I had graduated from high school the day before and had been out all night celebrating. Mom woke me up early."It's time to go vote," she said. " Later I would "proudly" tell my children that I voted for Richard Nixon in 1972, but so did most of the country. I am NOT proud to say that I would continue to vote Republican most of the time for the next 30 years.

But that started to change in the 1980s when I went back to college. I wasn't just listening to the liberal professors in the English and Philosophy departments, I was listening to myself - the person who had not really thought for herself most of her life. I became more concerned about women's rights as well as social injustice. By the time we went to war with Iraq under the first President Bush, I was totally against any kind of military action. My memories of the Vietnam War throughout my K-12 years influenced me - I just knew it would become what the current Iraq war is now.

Although I began to cross party lines and vote for Democrats more and more, the one issue that kept me a registered Republican until early this century was Roe vs. Wade. Being pro-life was a core belief instilled in me. I can't say that I've changed my mind much on this issue, but I have changed where I put it on my list of priorities when I vote.

In other words, when the Republican Party became more and more pro-big business and less concerned about ordinary Americans as well as poor Americans, I started to vote my conscience. The abortion issue took a back seat. Then when George W. Bush took us to war in Iraq, which has spilled a lot more civilian blood than American blood, the abortion issue went out the window. It just wasn't important to me anymore.

I heard someone on TV say something that explained this change in me: The Republican base tends to be very concerned about people before they are born and then after they die. The Democrats, on the other hand, are interested in people from "the womb to the tomb." They want to help the children who have already been born along with their parents and grandparents.

I then understood where I stood. I had become someone who cared about life in the here and now. I no longer based my decisions on religious beliefs, but on making this life better for me and others. So the Democrats became my party of choice, because they care about quality of life for the most people - not just the wealthy or those who agree with them.

So this year I find myself supporting Democrats running for office nationally and locally, plus volunteering for the DNCC (Democratic National Convention Committee). I've actually put bumper stickers on my car and yard signs on my deck which faces a busy road. I never got this involved when I was a Republican. I would only vote quietly. But then I was never really a Republican. I know that now.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 1 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Gladys Mercier

posted on 7/18/2008 @ 7:45:02 PM

Rated Story

I am glad to hear you are now a democrat but sorry that you have left your faith. I am a Christian and a democrat who believes in helping those who need it.

[Report as objectionable]

Showing 1 of 1 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Dianne Lorang

Littleton , CO

Dianne Lorang has posted 45 stories and 1 comment since joining on 9/9/2007. Dianne Lorang 's average story rating is 5.

view profile » view other postings from Dianne Lorang »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Littleton

All stories by Dianne Lorang

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad