By LEE BALLARD

I start every day in my ageless yellow corduroy chair, by an open window when possible, hoping for birds singing in the nearby woods.  This is my time to think through issues and anticipate the day ahead.  It’s a peaceful time.

One morning recently, though, I realized that I was…what?...very happy!  It was a totally positive feeling down deep in my being somewhere.

Right away I realized that the source of my joy was ─ simply ─ that I’m a Democrat.

I scribbled down details, but before I get to that, I should tell how I came to be a Democrat.  I voted for Nixon in 1960 and, soon thereafter, went to the Philippines as a missionary Bible translator. 

Those years changed me.  I lived with resourceful, tough, but terribly poor, people.  Ever since then I’ve been solidly behind people who struggle to get by, with small business enterprises, with the poor.

When I returned to the U.S. after 15 years, my first stop was the Jimmy Carter headquarters in Times Square, to volunteer.  I hadn’t voted since 1960, but I knew I was a Democrat.

So why am I happy to be a Democrat?  

Because I can’t ignore the powerless and give more power to the powerful.  I have to oppose people who see the world as a profit center and working people as an annoying line on their profit-and-loss sheets. 

When I worked for Democrats in last year’s campaign, I was working for public education that lifts up ambitious young people and for health care that gives peace to parents in despair over suffering children.  I give smiling thanks to God for this privilege of service ─ service in politics.  

I’m happy that I get to spend time with positive-minded people, people who see politics as a way to make life better for more people.  And I get to actively oppose people who gladly cut programs that help the poor so they can “shrink government.” 

I’m happy because I get to support people who love our earth and want to protect it for later generations.  And I get to oppose people and companies who see the world’s resources as something to be exploited for somebody’s profit.

I’m happy because I get to support people who want as many people to vote as possible.  And I get to oppose people who use voter-suppression gimmicks, like voter ID, to maximize their power.

Rush Limbaugh calls people like me bleeding hearts.  I wear his scoffing as a badge.  And I can’t help wondering if Jesus’ opponents didn’t call him a bleeding heart for some of his ideas, like Matthew 25:34-40.   

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Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.