Today I gave a birthday present to myself. I officially changed my voter registration to become a member of the Democratic Party.
Today is my 34th birthday. It also marked the 2nd to last day my driver’s license was actually valid. I rolled out the wonderful Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s photo license center and renewed my license for the next four years. I was able to do so because of the following legislation:
Thank you 103rd Congress and Bill Clinton
This is a move that has been long overdue for me. When I turned 18 I registered as a Republican. I don't think I knew enough about myself ideologically at 18 to do much of any intellectual merit with my initial registration. My guiding light was the systematic fear driving many of us the live in the Philadelphia suburbs; if you’re not registered Republican you’re not ever going to get anything from local/county government.
My first Presidential election was 1996. Proudly voted for Clinton. I still had no desire to change my voter registration from Republican because I had decided that I wanted to go into teaching as my career. Sadly, in Delaware County, PA one was told to live by; "You’ll never get hired in xyz school district" if you’re not registered Republican!" Time marched on and I continued to support Democratic candidates. Graduated college and was hired as a building substitute and then a long term substitute in xyz school district. The full time job there didn’t materialize (I was in for a teacher on a maternity leave who came back to her job) and I was back on the job hunt. It took me 3 years of substituting before I was able to land a full time teaching job. It is a smaller and newer school, doesn’t pay a lot, and isn’t really classified as the type of school around which one would build a 35 year teaching career.
I sit here in my 6th year at my school. It is a wonderful school, not in my home county, and not run in a political manner. It still doesn’t pay full public school wages, but is in the state pension system at least. It isn’t unionized, but isn’t run by micromanagement. So today as I renewed my driver’s license I decided that it was time to register as an actual member of the party I’ve supported through voting, canvassing, and donating for 15 years. I decided that the possible job at xyz school district and its Delaware County neighbors is not worth squat compared to where I currently work. I stopped chasing a restricted dead end, focused on being honest with myself, focused on being a more productive member of the political world, vowing to make the school systems in the Philadelphia suburbs more open to members of the Democratic Party.
A major thank you to any of you who took the time to read this. I’m glad it’ll get a small bit of attention on the main page before the new diaries are banished to the back alley.