One More Week

By: drmontoya
Published On: 10/31/2006 12:45:37 PM

One more week. One more week of campaigns, one more week of polls, one more week of being involved in politics.

For me.

I have always been interested in politics for years. When I was a little boy, I used to dream of being president. I never supported a party, just candidates that inspired me.

When I was in high school I supported a few candidates, but I didn't really get involved.. just kept close attention.

I supported democratic and republican candidates. For example, in 2000 I supported George W. Bush.
When I enlisted in the Navy at 17, 6 days after 9/11 things changed for me. Maybe it was being in the military or the reflection of what had taken place days before I shipped out that really began my search for truth.

Upon reporting for duty on my first assignment I began to follow the main stream media ever so closely. I began to see and feel the difference between both parties.

I would have called myself a self-described liberal republican before I joined the navy, but more and more I identified with the Democrats.

I have always been a proud catholic. I have never been a bible thumper, but never shunned them. I also never shunned those who disavowed any belief in god. But, faith has always been part of who I am.

I couldn't understand as a Christian, how we could invade poor countries, when we suffered poverty here at home.

I couldn't understand why we sought to fight diseases overseas when millions die here everyday here at home.

I couldn't understand why abortion and gay marriage although biblically wrong in my belief could be such trivial issues that divided us as a nation.

I always thought we had a separation of church and state in this country. I couldn't understand why the same people who support Republicans are the same people who are truly ignored.

So, over time I became a Democrat.

I have worked on a few campaigns, Clark, Kerry, and now Jim Webb here in Virginia.

We have one more week in this year's election.

I believe this is the most important election of our lifetime, no matter if you're a democrat, republican, or independent vote for a change in direction.

Our democracy is at stake.

I believe it is our responsibility as citizens of this great nation not allow our government to run away with our freedom.

No matter what you believe whether you're a true conservative or a true liberal you cannot deny the fact that our government is broken.

We can be one nation again.

We should be a society that embraces ideas of any party, a society that takes care of its people, a society that understands who it is responsible to.

As Americans we all have our own strong beliefs, but isn't it obvious now those in Washington don't care.

They want to divide us, they want us to hate each other, and they want us to continue down this path.

After this election I am going to leave the political scene to focus on my life, my family, my future. But before I leave politics in this final week..

Let's send a message, throw all the bums out.

Vote November 7th.

Comments



Really enjoyed your diary (Catzmaw - 10/31/2006 1:13:14 PM)
Thanks for the comments.  These same issues have bothered me over the years, too.  I am not 100 percent in sync with the Democrats, never have been, but I find far more compatibility with their message than I do with the Republicans.  On certain single issues I may be more conservative, but I cannot be a single issue voter to the exclusion of all the wrong stuff that's going on at the instigation of the Republican party.


thanks for writing that... (Jambon - 10/31/2006 1:45:49 PM)
My father was a Reagan Democrat (he was a small business owner struggling in the 80's) and I even remember him listening to Rush Limbaugh when he first got on the radio (yikes).  Thus I went into Catholic high school with some pretty conservative viewpoints.

But I encountered a wonderful teacher in my social justice classes at Paul VI who taught me to look at every issue from "other points of view".  Her main point was that moral issues aren't confined to school prayer, abortion, and gay marriage.  Catholic social teaching was clear about tax fairness, living wage issues, workers rights, capital punishment, the rights of the poor and all of the bread and butter issues.  And it was clear to me that the Republicans were wrong on all those things.

By the time I graduated I was a dog on' liberal! :-)

thanks for sharing Dave, great diary! 



Yes, people who think being Catholic is all about (Catzmaw - 10/31/2006 2:03:31 PM)
being a right wing conservative a la Bob Marshall ought to go back and read the great social encyclicals which date back to the late 1800s.  The Church's social teachings oppose capital punishment, unjust war (you have the right to self defense, but not to a pre-emptive strike, and things like carpet bombing are considered immoral), and the more rapacious attributes of capitalism.  Even on gay rights there's wiggle room.  The Church is leaning toward allowing gay couples to have their child baptized.  Only a Catholic can recognize how huge this is, because baptism is only available if the parent is willing to raise the child in the Church's teachings.  Of course this is not to say that I am not horribly disappointed in the stand of our own Virginia Catholic bishops, who have rather stupidly decided to support the constitutional amendment in the face of overwhelming evidence of its potentially destructive effect on domestic violence laws and on this state's budget when lawyers like me start filing attacks on the jurisdiction of the JDR courts to preside over domestic violence cases involving unmarried couples, both gay and heterosexual.  Moreover, the bishops have stepped over the line in advocating for this amendment which is clearly aimed at forcing people who don't want to be married to get married or suffer deleterious consequences.  Such a stand cannot help but come back and bite them.