It's after midnight, so it is now my 46th birthday. In honor of this august occasion, I thought I'd ramble through my very second diary. I haven't had much practice at writing these diary things, but FSM knows I've had plenty of long-winded comments. :D I'd like to do two things in this diary. One, I'd like to explain how I became politically aware and what I've learned from dKos. Two, I'd like to post my bucket list for my remaining 46 years. I'm planning to get very old, you understand. Heh...well, actually it's a wish list for things I'd like to see happen immediately. See you over the flip.
I consider myself to have had a fairly normal life so far. I've been born, grown up, got married, had some adventures, had a child, gone broke, financially recovered, blah..blah..blah... You know, normal stuff where life happened in all its triumph and tragedy. I'd beebopped along, never really taking the time to think critically or analytically about any issue larger than the ones in my immediate future; and sometimes not even those.
I remember when politics really started to get to me. I can even recall the exact moment I realized that just being a reliable Democratic voter wasn't enough. It was the day after Election Day 2000. I was sitting in front of my computer at work and realizing that a nightmare was going to unfold. You see, I didn't know squat about George W. Bush, but I was deeply acquainted with Dick Cheney. The thought of Cheney in the seat of true power scared the shit right out of me.
Then I thought about why he was anywhere close to that seat. It was because I hadn't personally gotten off my complacent butt and worked to get more Gore voters to the polls. By the tiniest of margins, because of the lassitude and laziness of the unmotivated people in my state, we invited a cancer into our lives. This belief was only reinforced during the next month as the court battle was raged. I met person after person who said that they hadn't voted, but if they had known the outcome...blah, blah. That was my moment of epiphany, but even that didn't spur me to much more action. That occurred during the run-up to the 2004 election. Enter Daily Kos.
By some stroke of luck, I'd been surfing the 'net on my lunch hour. I liked to read the commentaries on the different news sites, especially ABC's The Note. Somewhere amidst all that Halperin crap, I followed a link to someplace that led to another, etc..., and I found myself at dKos. Even then I didn't actually participate, just read a lot. But, I learned.
I learned that there were a lot of people out there just like me who wanted to help but didn't know how. I learned that there were teachers out there who knew what to do, how to do it, and were willing to share the knowledge. I watched the birth of a truly influential grassroots movement and learned how to midwife the same thing in my area, if on a smaller scale. It was so easy that it was a bit scary to realize the power that could be wielded, if only more people knew how little effort it really took.
So, that's where my political activism was born. Long-winded story short, I got my ass in gear. That brings me to today. St. Patrick's Day. My birthday. Happy birthday to me, bring on the strawberry shortcake! Now here's my birthday wish list.
- Criminal investigations of BuschCo.
- Criminal investigations of Wall Street.
- Criminal investigations of the Banks.
- Criminal investigation of Lynn Westmoreland,(R GA-03) I don't know that he's actually done anything wrong, I just hate the SOB and I figured if I was wishing...
- Jack Cafferty for King of Curmudgeons.
On a more personal note, I want my 11 year old daughter to grow up absolutely knowing that she is the most important thing in my life and that all my activism is simply to leave her a better world when we're done with it.
Well, I'm off to bed. I've got a math test this morning.
Sláinte Mhath