1,000th Post

[norepubsin08]

Please forgive me if this is in the wrong forum. Just delete if it is in the wrong place. I have been reading Democratic Underground since August of 2005 and joined this year. I have loved being able to learn from the discussions and also add my two cents worth.

It is with such pleasure and a light heart that I write this as opposed to what could have been a heavy heart and another four years of being in the wilderness.

I have been a liberal all my life. A proud card carrying member of the ACLU and a beneficiary of one their legal actions on my behalf regarding the constitutionality of the use of political yard signs.

My beliefs did not come easy. I was born in Germany, my German father died before my birth and when I was two, my mom met the man who would later adopt me and marry her. He was a serviceman who grew up during the Roosevelt era and served in the latter part of World War II and then Korea, was shot over there, came home and died as a result of those wounds in 1964 when I was 7. My mom lived in Frankfurt and was removed as a child from the city by order of Hitler. The removal came with out transportation and as a result she walked for miles in the freezing cold and snow to an orphanage in the Bavarian Alps. This gave her frostbite and that turned to gangrene when she became pregnant with me. In order to save my life she had her leg amputated with just local anesthesia. She was sickly her whole life and died of a stroke when I was 14. So I learned very early on that a nations' policies can and does have a direct impact upon an individual. I became a firm believer in the peace movement.

I came to be cognizant of the world around me during the time of the civil rights era. When great progress was made, the excitement of new advances for our fellow man. I read about Gideon vs Wainwright and Miranda vs Arizona and saw how government and law can actually make a difference for the better and my first historical readings as a twelve year old was from William Manchester "A Brief Shining Moment" as a young adult "A Thousand Days" "To Set the Record Straight"

I was educated in Roman Catholic Schools with liberal nuns who showed how you can apply your faith to civic discourse in a dignified manner with always keeping in mind "Christ's Preferential Option for the Poor" With those things it was hard not become a liberal.

At fourteen I achieved my US Citizenship and then at 32 had the high honor of being able to run for US Congress. I didn't win, but did force our US Congressman to quit funding the School of America's.
Also took a yard sign case up to the US Supreme Court on a free speech issue and won it 9-0.

Along with all you, I have suffered these past 8 years watching our nation crumble. Before that having the indignity of Reagan turning our country from a Peace Corps ideal to a "me first ideal"
I grieve over the tatters of our constitution, over the loss of respect that has come upon us from the world community, over the devaluing of human life and coarsening of our civil discussion.

But on this 1,000th post, I see light at the end of the tunnel...I saw promise once again and I see hope.
As I said the other night..."We made it to the train station, now the journey begins"

As Democrats, as progressives, as liberals...we have an obligation and a joy to mold and shape that journey. This board has helped in the past few years, let us go forward together and thank you for allowing me to be a part of this community.

Peace Mike Collier

[grantcart]

1. an honor to be the first to say thank you for your fighting spirit and this great post