for my 10,000th post! Thank you DU
For giving me a place learn, to discuss, to vent and to laugh!
I have told some of my story and plan to tell some each 5,000 posts. If it doesn't make total sense it is because this is my third language and I still have some trouble with written communication.
The reason why I am a liberal:
I was born to a mother who was born in Frankfurt Germany 10 months after Hitler took power. Her neighborhood was obliterated by allied bombing. My first memory of being cognizant of a war having been waged was sitting on a street trolly in March of 1962 when all of a sudden it and all traffic came to an absolute stop, everyone ceased talking and there was total silence in memory of the ones who lost their lives in the bombing of 1943. And I became anti war and didn't even know it.
My mom was removed along with all children from the major cities by Hitler in the winter of 1943. There was no transportation and because of the long walk into the Bavarian Mountains she got frost bite which turned to gangrene during her pregnancy with me. In order to save my life, she had her leg amputated with just local anesthetic. I watched her struggle through all her life with severe health problems, having a stroke at 39 and dying at 51. So at 15 I was made a foster child and a ward of the state. I remember the snickers of the kids when they saw her artificial leg. and yes it made me anti war!
I had a father who served in World War II, Korea and finally Vietnam. When the Gulf of Tonkin happened the first thing out of his mouth was that we were lying. He was sent to Vietnam and was shot and killed a week before my 7th Christmas. It definitely made me anti war.
When I was 3 months old, I contracted a case of encephalitis in Frankfurt. It left me in the hospital for six months, two in intensive care. My parents bill was under 200.00 it left me with a deep commitment to universal healthcare.
Because of this I always knew, even from early childhood, that political decisions have direct ramifications upon the individual.
And the liberals (through out my life) have always been more cautious in going to war, been more anti war than the Republicans.
Because of my parents death, I was given War Orphans Indemnity Compensation and it enabled me to attend college. Because of that I am indebted to the US public for my education. It gave me the ability to travel all over the world to sing, speak and teach. It also enabled me to have the skills to run for US Congress and event that changed my life to this day.
This coupled with the liberation theology education I had as a child has made me a liberal. Not a progressive but a LIBERAL!
I fully believe in education for all, health care for all, a strong huge safety net, a rising tide that lifts all boats, the right of a strong union to check management and civil rights for all classes. The first thing my parents did when we came to America was take me to the Statue of Liberty and made me memorize Emma Lazerus' quote: "Give me your tired your, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, send these the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Thank you DU for a place for hardcore liberals like me to vent...and as the Rev.MLK Jr. said: "The arc of the moral universe tends to bend toward justice" So keeping working folks...and lets laugh and share in the struggle together.
= new reply since forum marked as read
If multi-culturalism is going to work anywhere on Earth, it will be here, and we have shown that a healthy dose of liberalism layered on top of some regulated capitalism has made us the richest and most powerful nation in this planet's history.
-Laelth
... you're welcome.
-Laelth
I, for one, am happy to have you here.
-Laelth
Great post!
Julie
an interesting and enlightening history you have. Impressive
Thanks for sharing.
Glad you're here! I don't know what I'd do without DU, either!
