Hello Steemit community! My name is Anthony and I'm a self-diagnosed 'blog addict'. I've been involved in blogging as both a consumer and a contributer for the better part of 10 years. When everyone decided that 'blogs were the new media', I was there writing on politics, tech, and social topis religiously. And when everyone decided that 'blogs are dead', I was still there writing almost every day about the same topic. In the past, I've mostly written about technology but, as time has marched on, I've found myself deeply drawn to politics and social issues and that's pretty much what this blog is about.

So, let me introduce myself in that context.

For most of my adult life, I was a conservative Republican. I registered with the party the day after I turned 18 and I spend nearly the next 20 years on the right side of the political spectrum. I hated Bill Clinton, I hated 'the left', and I was convinced anyone who wasn't a Republican was hell-bent on destroying our wonderful country. I was a card carrying, conservative, Fox News Channel watcher. I was devoted.

But, as time went by, I grew tired of hating people because of their politics. I got tired of blindly ignoring the other side just because they had views different than my own. So, instead of arguing with people and communicating with them while keeping a keen ear out to tear their politics apart, I started to do something I'd never done before: I started to listen to people.

What I found is that most people I didn't agree with weren't bad people. In fact, in many ways, they were much like me: they cared about their families, they cared about the state of the world, they were passionate about their politics. No, they certainly weren't much different than me. And as I engaged with people who thought much differently than I, something very interesting happened: I moved left.

At first, I still regarded myself as a "moderate" Republican. I mostly agreed with the Republicans, still had a deep distrust of "liberals", and still mostly voted Republican but I started to see value in "leftist" ideas.

Then, in 2012, I found myself not liking either of the two-party candidates and exploring third party politics. At that point, I wanted something that reflected where I was at the time so I moved slightly left and worked for a Libertarian Presidential campaign at the state level. I didn't agree with everything the candidate believed but my involvement made me constantly evaluate my own political stances. When my candidate didn't win, I realized that it didn't matter. I felt like I'd helped to contribute to a very small part of the national debate and I was quite proud of it. For the first time, politics wasn't only about winning. Sure, winning is important but so is supporting a candidate with ideas that align with your morals. In 2012, Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico was that candidate for me.

After the loss, I immediately went back to researching different political ideologies. I compared and contrasted dozens of ideologies and, honestly, by 2015, I wasn't sure where I stood. Since I knew I didn't really fit into either of the major political parties, I started to call myself an independent. It freed me from the bounds of party allegiance and allowed me to fully vote my conscience. I felt relieved. I was beholden to nobody.

Then came Senator Bernie Sanders and changed everything one more time.

In early 2015, I started seriously listening to what people like Justin Amash and Bernie Sanders were saying. It made a lot of sense to me. People should be free, corporations shouldn't control the world, people who work hard shouldn't live in poverty in the most powerful and wealthy nation on earth, and they shouldn't have to choose between buying food for their family or dying because they couldn't afford medical care.

So somewhere around the middle of 2015, I threw my support behind Bernie Sanders and, when he declared his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for President, I followed him there too. I worked hard on the state level to get everyone i knew behind Sanders. I phone banked, I posted to social media, I contributed money to the campaign. I put my heart and soul into.

And we lost.

As everyone now knows, Sanders lost the nomination to Hillary Rodham Clinton in mid-2016 after a very contentious national convention. Accusations of voter fraud and suppression, and even collusion within the DNC itself dominated the headlines for a few weeks and culminated with Sanders endorsing Clinton at the convention. Needless to say, I was disappointed, dismayed, tired, and angry. But I didn't give up.

I moved left.

Around the time that Bernie declared his candidacy, I started also looking serious at the Green Party and their candidate, Jill Stein. I'd researched the Greens before and liked what I knew but, since I didn't think they had a chance in hell of winning, I passed them over after only a cursory glance. Now, I couldn't ignore them anymore. Everywhere I turned, I kept hearing Steins name, seeing her face in the media, and reading articles about her. I simply couldn't ignore this third-party candidate anymore, even if I didn't necessarily believe she could win. Morals, after all, don't always made winnable elections.

Now, I find myself in the place I think I'm likely to stay: the Green Party. There honestly isn't anything about the party don't like. Even if Stein doesn't win this election, I realize that's just a matter of putting in work on the local level to create a more conducive climate for change in 2020. We may not win the presidency then either. But a lot of change can happen outside of the White House. We don't really need to win the presidency to change our world for the better. So, for the next four-years, I'm throwing everything i have into the Green Party. I'm holding nothing back and I'm going to do my part at changing my city, my state, and maybe even the country to be a little more green. Baby steps and all that.

This blog is going to serve two purposes: I'm going to chronicle my own efforts in Green activism and work and I'm going to cover Green Party news and information. I'll post as often as I can and, hopefully, you'll enjoy what I write. It is my hope that I can contribute something to the national or even your local discussion. Together, I am convinced we can build a better world.

Come along with me?