I recently became an LPR meaning that I am eligible to contribute to congressional candidates.
I arrived in the US on Nov 9th, 2000. The day after.
Having followed political campaigns in my native Greece and having witnessed Tony Blair purported third way, under whom the imperialistic British spirit he once protested against continued its ugly history, I told myself that I should not get involved.
So I arrived, in the Mecca of capitalism, the day after. Well my commitment to staying away from politics lasted about a day. Not so much because of the selection of Mr. Bush but because I happened to come to work for the #1 hospital in the US, and found it surrounded by the #1 ghetto in the US.
There are two issues I care about the most, social inequality and the death penalty. Those of you who have come to Baltimore may find it hard to comprehend the absurdity of working at Johns Hopkins and living here. Those of you who have not lived in Europe may not immediately realize why so many of us oppose the death penalty on moral - let alone practical - grounds. But this conversation is for another day.
Three years later I was in Des Moines, Iowa knocking doors for Howard Dean. Four years after that I did the same in Fort Dodge, Iowa for Barack Obama.
Today I made my first contribution to Alan Grayson, not because of his brash style, but because of his passion fighting for progressive causes. According to Alan Grayson republicans in congress are foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. Classic stuff!
I hope I will be able to support him in the future and I hope you can support him too.