Posted by
JayPeriod on Friday, July 13, 2007 1:44:57 PM
I thought I would start my blog here on Townhall.com with a little introduction to how I came to call myself a conservative. There are those moments in most of our lives when we come to that realization that we are conservative, whether we were born that way or came to it. Here is my story.
I was raised in a home of an AFL-CIO union worker. As such, my dad was died-in-the-wool Democrat. He was led to believe that they were the only party looking out for his welfare. I don't think there were any other reasons for his voting Democrat in every election.
The first election I remember watching on TV was the 1976 election between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Since my folks had cast their ballots for Carter, I watched and cheered as the returns showed that most of the rest of the country had done so as well. I knew that the nation was still stinging from Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War, and Carter and the Democrats had promised change.
Four years following that, I remember my folks again casting their vote for Carter, even though we were in the midst of the hostage situation in Iran. We convinced ourselves that there was nothing Carter could do. We also convinced ourselves that the poor economy was not the result of Democratic policies, either. We insisted that "Big Business" was to blame. If Carter only had another four years, he would prevail and save us all.
Over the next four years, I was excited that I would finally get to cast my ballot. My dad complained on a regular basis about the Reagan administration and how we needed to get him out of power, seeing as he had no idea what he was doing, being an actor and all. I was convinced I was a Democrat, just like him. I knew that as I learned more about the campaigns, promises and platforms, I would come to the same conclusions he had.
Election year, 1984, finally rolled around. I listened intently to both Reagan and Mondale. I watched debates, read newspapers, researched policies and platforms, and began to form my opinions. I came to one startling conclusion; I was conservative. As I learned what a conservative was, I wondered how my father could have aligned himself with the other side. They actually believed nothing we did. Yet, even though my father was no longer a part of the union, he still believed the lies they had sold him.
Needless to say, he was very disappointed with my vote. Not only had I voted for Regan, I had voted for Bob Dole for Senate! From that time on, we never discussed politics.
From that time to now, I have been a die hard conservative. I think I have actually shifted even further right since that time, due partly to my conversion to Christian faith, and having my own family. The conservative platform of the Republican Party falls into line with almost every belief I have, both from faith and education.
I do my best, any time I can, to try to convince people that they, too, are conservatives. They just don't know it, yet. Many people I come into contact with, ultimately realize that they don't really believe what the Democratic Party believes, which only gets further left with influence from Hollywood, Soros, and other radicals. I firmly believe when the facts are put out there, and positions explained, most people are conservatives. We just have to show them.