Be honest, what in the platform first attracted you to vote for a Democrat

I have to admit that if the Republican party had also been the party of social liberalism, I probably would have been more attracted to their "free market" talk when I was younger, more selfish, and more foolish. Now I realize that it's impossible to be the party of big business while being socially liberal at the same time.

While the social liberalism drew me in, it's the economic populism that is truly keeping me a liberal now.

I'm all about the party that accepts 'outsiders'. Plus I'm an atheist (or agnostic depending on my mood) and cannot get with the Bible thumpin'.

Respect for humanity. Respect for the planet.

_{. . . . . . "I always laugh when people say that George W. Bush is saying this or that to appease the religious right. He is the religious right." - GWBush first cousin John Ellis}

said
government is for the rich by the rich

the difference in the parties
dems - get a social conscience every once in awhile
rethugs - never do

my translation

rethugs hate people love corporations
dems love people

it is people versus corporations

repub lines always sound enticing - promising - like they are going to help education or social security - that is what the rethug in va said

and put down the war hero as weak on defense and this is a iraq veteran

I know no matter how good the lie sounded that she is going to trash our education system and the social security
and no one seems to care

No choice in the matter, heh. However, I was also raised to think for myself, and the choice was obvious, across the board. But, of course, the brainwashing was done at that point! :P

A clear understanding of the issues came later.

Friends and family dying senselessly in Vietnam was more important than any policy.

Given all of the pandering the party does to the vast middle, rather than standing firm for values of peace and social justice. I am pragmatic enough to know that in our current structure none of the third parties who are closer to my ideals will be able to win the presidency and, for the most part, democratic positions are closer to my values than republican positions.

I am a democrat in name only, since I believe it is important to be involved in the political process, and the best opportunity I have of influencing the presidential race is by voting for the candidate in the primaries that is in a party that has a real possibility of winning in the general election. To do that I have to register as a Democrat. As a practical matter, I work for individual candidates (most, but not all, of whom happen to be democratic).

We are less materialistic than them.

look around. The proponents of the free market system know that if a free market system existed, they wouldnt really be that rich. Its like a friggen club. Also no one enforces white collar crime and when they do, they take down martha stewart. Hypocrisy is what they're all about. They dont care about the country. Each time a right winger opens his or her mouth they are talking about themselves, when they talk about social issues they are talking about how it affectes them. Anyone with empathy is a liberal, those without are conservatieve.

eom

affordable healthcare, separation of church and state, labor rights, education reform, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, over-population, Nixon, Vietnam, FDR, JFK, MLK, Iran-Contra, First Gulf War, Somalia, Iraq sanctions, stolen election 2000 w/Supreme Court blessing, 9-11, PATRIOT Act, current Iraq War, present smelly election.

I think that's a full chronological listing of what motivates me to lean Democratic.

pretty well all of it. I have always like the ideal of the multinational immigrants banding together, excepting of differences, but being brothers and sisters in a new land, working for the assurance of quality of life and security ..To me that is what the Democratic party represents.

...and was disgusted at the amount of money we were spending on nuclear weapons, star wars, etc, when there were people going hungry here at home. The Reagan years taught me that Republicans were NOT out to help the average American, let alone the needy.

For the record, I was raised in a republican family.