How have your political views changed over time?
2024 has all the promise of being a politically tumultuous year. And I can’t say I’m looking forward to that.
Just a few years ago, I’d cast my vote and feel pride in having performed my civic duty and participating in the democratic process. Now I feel fear, of what might happen at a polling place while I’m there, and what the results of certain elections might be.
For the first 23 years of my life I was apolitical. Sure, I joined in the applause when the high school disciplinarian announced over the PA system that Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned. That seemed like a good thing. But I didn’t really follow politics.
Then my college roommate turned me on to his favored candidate in the 1980 election. Forget Carter and Reagan, he said; go for the Independent, John Anderson. And I did. And he lost, as did Carter, and I think so did the country with Reagan in office.
But after that I was attuned to politics. I followed the news and voted in every election, even the local, “off-year” ones. In California, I also worked at the polls. Berkeley taught me that everything is political—every decision, from whether to get out of bed in the morning to who you vote for for president is a political decision.
When I moved back to PA, I switched my driver’s license to the state (and, oddly enough, even though I’d been gone for 20 years, I got my original number back), and was asked a question on the screen: did I want to register to vote and for what party? Prior to that moment I had been adamantly independent and often selected “decline to state.” But I decided the Democrats needed all the help they could get, and selected “Democrat.” That help will be even more needed in 2024.
When self identifying I usually describe myself as a “progressive/liberal, probably a socialist,” depending on who I am talking to. And that’s a far cry from the apolitical undergrad from many years ago.
MUSOFYR 