Why Are You A Democrat? (Day 3)

Sep 26, 11:06 AM CST

We now have almost 100 responses to our request to hear your stories and testimonies about why you are donkey instead of an elephant. Here is today’s selection including a special post from Nance County Activist Kerry Case. Enjoy!

My name is Kerry Case, and I am the chair of the Nance County Democrats. Growing up, my family taught me how lucky we are to live in a country that celebrates freedom through the civil liberties we all enjoy, from the right to vote, to the right to worship or not worship as we choose, to the right to free speech. Some of my own ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, securing the freedoms that we enjoy today. Looking back, politics seemed very different when I was younger. It seemed that there was a greater degree of acceptance for a wide variety of views, and that diversity was considered strength rather than a weakness.

The Democratic Party has always shared more of the values that are important to me. We are the party of social justice, the party that has shown the most concern about creating equal opportunities and prosperity for all people. The Democratic Party has always been a party of the people, and we the people are better for the work Democrats have done.

We are a party of family values and understand the need for the best schools, affordable health care, jobs that pay a living wage, clean air and water, equality, and religious freedom. In the wake of hurricane Katrina, these ideals are even more important. We are living in troubling times, and many people continue to live in poverty. Americans continue to experience the erosion of some of our most precious ideals, held since the beginning of our nation. We see the erosion of rights that Americans have enjoyed, from women’s rights to civil rights. Americans deserve better, and it is our responsibility to create a better future for ourselves, and for our children and grandchildren. That is why I am proud to be a Democrat.
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I am a Nebraska Democrat because I am tired of being lied to by our Corporate Government. When I was a child, I remember having absolute faith in the United States Government. Now, every statement that is issued by a government official is subject to question. One tends to look for the “spin” in every response. Now, the Democrats are not perfect either. But traditionally the Democratic Party is honestly concerned with service to others, with caring for those less fortunate in our society, with equality in education, in the job market, in the health care of all Americans. We see too much corporate greed. We see too much outsizing of jobs that force working Americans out of the benefits that the rich among us take for granted. The Democrats are willing to give. It seems the Republicans are all too willing to take, especially from those who can least afford it. The “trickle-down” theory doesn’t work; all it does is make the corporate world smug that they are “doing something”.

-Lois Mertes
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I feel that the neo-conservatives that are currently in power are a threat to our country, and the Democrats are the only viable alternative.
-Alan Meyer
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I’m a Nebraska Democrat because I was raised with the basic midwestern values of kindness, generosity, hard work, and taking care of your neighbor. Nebraskans do these things to be good people, but also because we believe the common sense idea that what improves the fortune of our neighbors is also good for the rest of us. The Democratic Party embodies these values, while more conservative parties turn their back on these things that most Nebraskans treasure and are raised to believe. It is my wish that people who share our basic values (and I think this would include 90% of Nebraskans) will realize that it is the Democrats who are more likely to implement them.

-Sheri
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By the grace of a loving God, and fortunate birth, I am a Nebraska Democrat. In the fifties, before massive media, we had big extended Families. Our farm, because we had the best chicken, beef, fresh garden stuff and the big front porch, was a great gathering place. Uncle Les cussed FDR, called him a red. Grandpa talked about meeting Buffalo Bill, and Hoover was “that short sighted bragger.” The WW II Pacific vets loved Truman. Farmers spoke reverently of Bryan and Stevenson. Us kids mainly listened, and ate pie, cheating at rummy. Our time would come.

January 20 1961, John Kennedy told each of us to ask what we could do for our country. I became a participant, and a Democrat from that point forward. The Kennedy/Johnson farm program strengthened the family farm and the on-farm grain reserve protected national security. College education became affordable, and finally, something was starting to happen to our stupid racial prejudice.
In the amazing upheaval of the late 20th century, we Democrats were the agents of change. We fought for, and continue to fight for equality, for liberty, for fair wages, for a better environment, for 16 years ,of great education, for a balanced budget, for Peace, for a Real United Nations, For the best healthcare for all, for a stock market like Clinton’s, and for a slice of apple pie as pure and sweet as Grandma made. In these dark times of misdirected war, fiscal irresponsibility, and perverse religious extremism, I continue to fight to save my country, my state, my city, and when I die, my fondest wish is to come right back and keep up the good fight because it’s the only game in town.

-Steve Hollister
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I am a Nebraska Democrat because I believe we owe it to our fellow citizens to help those in need and to provide for a future for all Nebraskans, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, beliefs, or socio-economic status. I hold a Ph.D. today because of the Great Society programs which helped my family in times of need during my childhood. I’m proud to say I am a product of Head Start, of WIC, of Pell Grants. And I feel it is my responsibility to make sure that we either have a society in which these programs are there to help others, like they did my family, or better yet, a society in which they are no longer needed. I teach and do research today not for the money, God knows I could make much more working in private enterprise, but because I want my daughters and their friends to have a future of equality, education, and promise, not the future I currently see of poverty, discontent, in-equality, and global strife. This is why I am a Nebraska Democrat.

-Mike Shambaugh-Miller

– by amanda | Send this to a friend

  1. What a great question. I was rasied in Southeast Nebraska my father was a railroader until the day he died. He always said the it doesn’t mater what the man does for a living it what he does with his community how can he make others lives better. Dad was a Fair deal Democrat. Believed that everyone deserved to be treat fair that I have the same rights and freedoms as the richest man to the poorest man we are all equal in the eyes of the nation. Truman and Jonshon, and Exon. I took my beliefs from Dad and I have never stop being who I am or what I believe in: We’re for freedom of speech everywhere. We’re for freedom to worship everywhere. We’re for freedom to learn, for everybody. Regardless who you are what you do and how much money that you might or may not have. Thats why I am a Democrat and even more while I am a Nebraska Democrat
    — Brian Hughes    Sep 26, 05:25 PM CST #
  2. There is an axiom, repeated by gospel preachers, by coaches in sporting events, by drill sergeants in the most basic of military training camps, and by teachers in our schools. “We are only as strong as our weakest member.” In American politics, that axiom is only held, believed and endorsed by the Democratic party.

    Recognizing our weakest member, and helping them to conquer their weakness (our weakness?) means so much more than the “welfare handouts” conservatives bemoan. Having the courage to recognize those weaknesses, and recognizing that we can steer away from the societal policies which created those weaknesses, is what makes me a Democrat. Having the courage to say, “That is just wrong!” is what makes me a Democrat.

    Progressive minded souls are what have made America great. Those progressives were not always called “Democrats,” or dare I say “Liberals.” Nonetheless, it was progressives like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson which lead the Colonies to break away from Britain. It took a progressive like Abraham Lincoln to take the stain of slavery from our nation. A visionary like Theodore Roosevelt saw the need to preserve the natural wonders of this nation, for his generation and for America’s progeny. Because of his physical disabilities and in spite of the wealthy class he was born to, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, acknowledged that Democrats were the people’s party, and knew what was needed to carry this nation through the Great Depression and the Second World War. John Kennedy set us on the path to capturing the moon. Lyndon Johnson had the courage to try to eliminate poverty and endorse civil rights. Jimmy Carter’s outlook lead him to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, albeit a few years late. William Jefferson Clinton ended his eight years as president with less poverty in America, a booming economy, a smaller government, a budget with a surplus, and the world at our doorstep. Some of those names may have been labeled as “Republicans” but the things for which they stood are what being a Democrat in the twenty-first century means.

    We are the party with a social conscience.

    So if you believe, as I do, that America exists to “provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings liberty, to ourselves and our posterity,” than you are a Democrat. Were it not for progressive minded Democrats, we would all be serfs paying homage to a king.

    Our patriotism as Democrats is more than a bumper sticker. It is a heartfelt belief. It mandates an acknowledgement of humility. And it is a promise to our future that we can, should, and will, always make America better!

    I am proud to be a Nebraska Democrat!
    — jimdake    Sep 26, 09:42 PM CST #
  3. The Democrats’ open hostility to the family, open hostility to the unborn, open hostility to Nebraska’s Catholic schools, and openly tiny families leads me to expect that anti-life, anti-family, anti-Catholic Democrats with ZPG families won’t be the majority for generations to come.
    — Dennis Larkin    Apr 02, 06:01 PM CST #

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