(11-04-2026 09:03 PM)TripleA Wrote:  I have been connected to, interested in, or directly involved in politics since I was 5 years old, in 1952. My dad was a rubber worker and union official at Firestone in Memphis from 1938 (minus 4 years in the Navy soon after) until his retirement in 1978. He was a diehard Democrat.

I recall in 1952 that my dad was assembling political materials to pass out at work, to keep all the union workers voting Dem. He stayed a Dem until the day he died. He even had me helping him with it, so I was raised in a solid Dem family, and voted Dem until maybe late 20s or 30. Then I shifted to Repub for a few years, then finally became an independent, and mostly voted third party until 2020.

I never knew what my mom was, but I assumed she voted the same.

My sister, a little younger than I am, is also a die-hard Dem, even though she only has one issue: abortion. But she is so hard over, we can't talk politics at all.

At any rate, with that background, I was thinking today, about how many times a political view or implementation by either party made any kind of difference in my life.

I can't think of a single one.

Meanwhile, the Grand Canyon is absolutely stunning this time of year. Just spent 2 days there, before moving on today. Some of you guys maybe need to loosen up a bit and enjoy life while you have a good shot at it. Just a friendly thought.

My great uncle was a Democratic mayor of Atkins Arkansas long time ago. As I view growing up in a Democratic family, I noticed that a lot of Democrats have been unfairly labeled one way or the other. A lot of new faces running, and they get labeled by different things from the right. Democrats have Conservative that leans to the right like Hillary Clinton, moderates like Obama and joe Bidden, Progressives like FDR or the far left where some of the crazies are at. Republicans to have some Liberal Progressives like Reagan since he was a Democrat at one point. I studied history and I compare Reagan with today's Republicans, and I find that when they claimed they are for Reagan? Why do the exact opposite of him? He showed compassion, and he never attack the Democrats. Republicans and Democrats passed a lot of issues that Reagan signed into law like the Disabilities Act which Trump and Republicans unfairly called it DEI. This is where I think a lot of people don't understand why Republicans lost? They went too far, and now the whole country is hurting. People want to have it corrected. Look at the Montana's first district house race that went to a Democrat for the very first time? He was a SmokeJumper and had to hold down three jobs to make ends meet. That won the support from the Republicans to win. That is how Democrats can win in Red states. Candidates who are relatable.