Tulsi Gabbard’s appeal.
My friends tell me I am in love with another woman. That I spend too much time talking about Representative Tulsi Gabbard, and I should find myself another hobby.
They think it is because I find her pretty, and cool. Well, yes, I do, but her appeal goes way beyond just good looks.
I am a father, a husband, an engineer, an immigrant, an American, a capitalist, a Catholic, and an Independent. And this is my story as to how and why I became a supporter of Representative Tulsi Gabbard.
In 2008 I was still not a citizen. There were three possible candidates: McCain, Obama and Hillary. Back then I was happy with any one of them winning the presidency, I didn’t mind who would win because I knew any of the three would have done a fantastic job.
I grew up in a different country, but in 2010 I became an American citizen. I never followed US politics until the end of the first term of the Obama’s administration. I remember the first time I voted. In that relative short period of time, I saw a polarization of the political landscape. I saw the rise of the Tea Party who considered “compromise” a bad word. I heard for the first time political leaders of the opposite party say that their sole goal was to ensure that the current President became a one-term president.
Then, I started to pay attention. America, the country that inspired me to become a better person, started to deviate from the goals inscribed in the Bill of Rights, or the plaque at the Statue of Liberty. The leaders of this country started to appeal not to our dreams and hopes, but to our fears.
When Hillary announced that she would be running again in 2016, I was not as excited as back in 2008. Why? Because America had changed, Hillary had too much baggage, and there was a very large segment of the population that despised her. That was no way to improve the political climate, it would only make it worse, more polarization and limiting progress.
It is funny how I learned about Bernie Sanders, I was watching Jon Stewart.
A few days later, I did more research, and found a candidate speaking to what was important for me, with solid policies with broad appeal. I learned more about him and the more I learned about him, the more I knew he was the leader America needed at that moment. I donated, promoted him to friends, neighbors, and family, and his candidacy inspired me to register to the Democratic party so that I could vote for the first time in my life in a primary election (Oregon has closed primaries). What I found surprising was that most people I talked to “knew” that Hillary was going to win, and few took the time to try to understand why I was eager to elect a “socialist”.
I tried to explain that the 2016 election cycle was different and that a mainstream candidate had no chance, no other clip was a better indication of the type of candidate America was looking for than this town hall with Donald Trump.
People were tired, angry, they wanted change, they didn’t want the same policies that have lowered standards of living for the majority of Americans. They were searching for something new.
Then, while following Sanders, I saw for the first time a clip of Tulsi Gabbard. In that clip she resigns to her vice-chair position of the DNC in order to support Sanders, and prevent a conflict of interest.
Then she was the last person to nominate Sanders during the democratic convention. She did not bend, and kept her integrity intact, with a message of love and hope. “This my friends is a movement of love. Love that call upon us to care.” -Tulsi Gabbard
I thought I was the only person who had identified a politician with the appeal required to stop polarizing politics. But thank God I was mistaken, as soon as Sanders lost the nomination, I started looking for ways to start working right away in promoting a Tulsi presidency, to my surprise there was already a growing number of people who shared that idea.
I also found that not only Democrats, but Independents, Libertarians and Republicans wanted Tulsi to run. Many of us started (and continue) to create websites, groups, Facebook pages to make sure that more and more people know about Tulsi Gabbard.
She is not a snowflake, She is a veteran.
She is not divisive, She seeks building bridges.
She is brave, smart, has integrity, and seeks peace and prosperity for all.
Her acts speak louder than her words, and she has inspired thousands of us to dedicate our time and skill to try to convince her to run, and to make others know about her.
This is not the time to create more divisions. This is the time to have more empathy for each other, to have a leader that will not govern for Democrats or for Republicans but for all of us.
Want to know more about Tulsi Gabbard? visit my Facebook page, or better yet, spend the time doing your own independent research.
https://www.facebook.com/CentristsForTulsiGabbard
With all that said, the only thing left to say is: Run Tulsi Run!