>From my view you have all the markings to be a liberal democrat. <"

I suppose this is a contradiction but my life seems to be one contradiction after the other.  And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Let me tell you about "My Little Girl" before I answer her question.


She is an accomplished artist, not sure of her political beliefs but I am sure it is filled with skepticism and compassion.  She is married to a Professor of History who is working on his Doctorate and devoutly religious.   At 16 she had paintings hanging in the halls of Congress, at 18 she received a scholarship to the Atlanta collage of art.  At 19 the collage said they could not teach her anything because she was superior to their program and offered to pay half the cost to send her to Paris to study. 

Impressive? Now to the contradictions. She did not want to go to Paris because she had discovered "5 Corners" in Atlanta and she did not want to be told how to paint.  She wanted to just let it happen.  She was a "Grung/Punk" mosh pit rocker with dyed hair.  But, she is also a vegetarian, weight lifter runner health nut.  Lets not forget that she is a devout christian.  See any contradictions there?

As to her question - 

Our family had been land owners in N.C. since before the Revolutinary way. I can remember my Grandparents driving us around the county showing us all the land our family used to own.  They took great pride in showing me where a ancestor had died defending this country.  They were proud of our family of "Citizen Soldiers"  and maintained the battlefield markers through out the county bearing the names of ancestors who had died during the Revolutinary war and the War of Session.

Thats when  I learned why we were "Share Croppers" who worked someone else land.  It seems that In the United States, the federal government levied inheritance taxes.   As the head of each family died the land was left to children, brothers and sisters with just one catch.  They had to sell some of the land to pay the inheritance taxes.  Over a couple hundred years it seems there was nothing left except the main house and a few acres.

I was born a Democrat as were all my ancestors.   There were no Conservatives or Liberals/Progressives.  You were a Democrat or a Republican and everyone knew that Republicans were the rich industrialist yankees.  Democrats would protect us poor farmers and keep the rich Republicans from taking our farms and life style.

Even at a young age I began to notice that every time the "Govermentman" came around he was taking something from us and he was a Democrat.  There was a term we used back then "plow it under".  The Democrat farm co op guy would show up with a check and say. "I'll give you this check but you have to plow under several rows of your crops.  Tobacco, peanuts or cotton didn't make any difference.  It was like the Mafia "I'm gonna do you dis favor but you gotta do this thing for me."

I also noticed that when we had a bad year the "Governmentman" just couldn't take a chance and loan us any money but the rich Republican Banker always seemed to be able to help.  Tradition is tradition and we voted Democrat.  Then one year, after a hurricane, things got so bad that my Dad gave up and moved us to the city.

In 1960 I heard the call of President Kennedy (D) and enlisted in the US Army to fight the "Red Minis" that was threatening to take over the world.  When President Johnson (D) vowed to stop the spread of communism in S.E. Asia I volunteered for Vietnam.  While I was over there we saw news of people in the US demonstrating against the war and heard the debate in congress about getting us out of Vietnam.  But something didn't seem right.  The under tone was that some how we, the soldiers, were responsible for what was happening.  When I was discharged I faced the same charges.  I knew I didn't start the war, the Democrats did, but I was somehow responsible for it because I had answered the call to defend this country.

A family by the name of Kellum ran the local party and I became very supportive of them.  I put up signs, walked neighborhoods and supported whom ever the Democrat party choose to run.  I also became friends with the head of the local Republican party and was eventually asked to change my party affiliation, move into the county and run for city council as a republican.  I refused but word got out and I became "persona non grata"  in the democrat party.  Even my Masonic brothers turned their backs on me.  I became non political.

Over the next few years I watched from the side lines as Jimmy Carter made a fool of our country.  One day I heard an actor, named Ronald Reagan, speaking about our country.  This was the kind of man we needed to lead our country.  I was becoming  a Conservative Republican and I threw myself back into politics.  Then when I read a book by President Johnsons Secty. of Defence my admitting that the democrats never intended to win the war in Vietnam my transformation was complete. 

It seems that I did not leave the Democrat party.  I was always a conservative.  They left me for something called liberalism.  Compare the Democrat party of today with the party of President Kennedy and you can see how much they have changed.