OH-15 -- Why I Am A Democrat

[frazzle]

First, I want to thank everyone who has come to visit my website over the last few months. I have been on the campaign trail since early this year and we have a long way to go. By my calendar, we have 55 weeks to go until the November 2006 election. Every day will be filled with hope, opportunity and challenges. One such challenge appears to be coming over the horizon. It was reported in today's Columbus Dispatch that another candidate will be announcing for this race. I welcome the challenge and look forward to the debate. To begin this debate, I am posting my reasons that I am a Democrat in the extended entry.

I also ask for your support. Please visit this website and find out why I will be an excellent representative for the 15th District of Ohio.

Mark Losey


Why I Am A Democrat

When I was a boy, I used to bug my Grandpa with questions about everything I could imagine. My favorite time to pepper him with questions was when we would kick around on a pasture he owns in Logan County, where he had some cattle. On one of those walks I asked “Grandpa, are we Democrats or Republicans?” My Grandpa, who grew up on a farm during the height of the Great Depression, paused. “Before Roosevelt became president, our family almost starved to death,” he replied. Grandpa Wren is still a Democrat. So am I.

In the modern era, the Democratic Party repeatedly leads America toward the fulfillment of its greatest hopes in the face of its greatest challenges. FDR’s New Deal delivered hope to my Grandpa during a Great Depression. Democrats delivered dignity to hard-working Americans and fulfilled the hope for a large middle class. Social Security ensured my Grandpa’s hope for a dignified retirement. Harry Truman’s G.I. Bill fulfilled the hopes of a generation of warriors who learned how to beat their swords into plowshares. John F. Kennedy dared to hope for a sweeping Civil Rights Act, and Lyndon Johnson signed that hope into law. Medicare and Medicaid were big steps toward meeting the hopes of health care for America’s seniors and poorest children. Environmental laws moved us closer to our families’ hopes for cleaner air and water. The Clinton administration turned hopeless budget deficits into surpluses, and forever raised the standard by which economic stewardship and prosperity will be measured.

Democratic leaders have also delivered hope for peace throughout the world--FDR’s leadership in WWII, the Marshall Plan, containment of Communism, the Peace Corps, Egypt-Israel peace accords and peace in Kosovo.

Because all Americans are in this together, Democrats believe that America does its best when all, not just some, Americans get the opportunity to do their best. And while others fear the journey of progress, Democrats are driven by the unwavering hope to always do better than we ever have. As it always does, the Democratic Party will undoubtedly lead the charge toward this generation’s great challenges: fiscal responsibility, economic prosperity, safer and cleaner communities, protecting Social Security, ensuring national security and more affordable and accessible health care.

I’m deeply proud to be a Democrat. To be sure, I have great respect for fair-minded folks of all parties. And I will readily reach out to Republicans seeking partners for progress. But strong leadership must have roots. Proverbs teaches that “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Because I believe in hope fulfilled, my roots will forever be in the Democratic Party.

[OhioBlue]

1. Thanks for the post Mark!

I like the story about your Grandpa. Hopefully as more an more Ohioans see the truth that Democrats are practical and work for progress and the betterment of the middle class while the Republicans are ideological and fight progress and work for the betterment of the elite and the corporations, we can start turning our State Blue.

Best of luck to you.