I became a Democrat when I was 7 years old, living in a by-the-week motel in Mattawa, Washington. My dad and I were watching a presidential debate in 1988. I asked him who we wanted to win—like it was a football game.

"We are Democrats," he said.



I asked him why.



"Democrats," my dad told me, "are better for people like us."



None of my friends had parents who delivered newspapers and worked the morning shift at McDonald's. None of my friends lived in a motel. I knew what he meant by "People Like Us."



From then on I was a Democrat. Some kids inherit the Green Bay Packers. Some kids grow up hearing about Bart Starr. I grew up hearing about the day John F. Kennedy died.



But as I got older and better understood my parents' struggles, I decided I didn't want to be People Like Us. I wanted to be People Like Them.



Part of wanting to be People Like Them was economic. I didn't want to come home from work smelling like Egg McMuffins and newspapers. I wanted to go to college. I wanted to get a good job.



But wanting to cross the divide between Us and Them was about more than just economics.



For example, after I watched my mom come home and intentionally make herself vomit after eating sushi for the first and only time, I resolved to grow up and love sushi.



People Like Them ate sushi.



People Like Us ate our fish in stick form.