I am Eric Brant and the newest writer for Blogging Blue. I live in the Madison area and am active in several progressive groups.
Politics have interested me for most of my life. When I was young, I thought I was Republican because someone told me that the Democrats were okay with killing babies. Of course, this was only to the extent that a nine -year-old can comprehend such an expansive subject. During the 1992 election, I had a pro-life v. pro-choice debate with a classmate for the entirety of our lunch break. Various students quietly listened as we dove deep into our young minds to extract the vast knowledge that we both believed we possessed on the subject. My counterpart was backing Bill Clinton; I was firmly in Poppy Bush’s corner. We traded verbal blows for 20 minutes until he finally renounced Clinton and agreed to vote for George H.W. Bush in our class election. I had won! I had convinced another nine-year-old that it was wrong to kill babies (at the time, my knowledge of the issue didn’t stretch much farther than this point)! Could this be the beginning of my political career?! To this day, my former opponent is still Republican. Can his conservative edge be traced back to a single lunch period in 1992 grade school? I can’t say for sure, but I myself have moved on.
In my late teens, I started leaning farther and farther to the left. In my early 20′s, I played in a band with a Political Science major who kickstarted my political education. We wrote songs about George W. Bush, Fox News, and even the corporate music industry. We enjoyed spirited conversations during band practice, parties, and at the bars. After the band broke up, and I faced the reality that my musical skills are mediocre at best, I needed a new hobby. My political obsession was born. Over the last 10 years I have gone through the several stages that have cost me friends and allies as my ambition for political activism grew stronger and stronger: the “know-it-all” who really only has opinions, but believes those opinions are strong enough that the world must hear them; the “know-it -all” who starts to make some sense, but still tosses out far too much opinion, and easily begins aggressive debates; the “know-it-all” who starts to realize that there is far more to these subjects than mere opinion, but still enjoys a heated debate at the smell of ignorant blood; and finally, the respectful, calculated student of history who has learned enough to know that I have a long way to go to ever be Thom Hartmann, Paul Krugman, or even Chris Matthews.
These days, politics consume my life. From the moment I wake up and turn on MSNBC, to the moment before I fall asleep with a book by Paul Krugman on my night stand; I always have politics on my mind. I enjoy learning about our country’s history in an effort to connect the dots of the past and present, to help predict the future.
I have written online articles for several years, and I also do a podcast with a former State Senator. For I believe that it is one thing to educate yourself, and something far more respectable to interpret that knowledge in a way that you can get it out to the public in an effort to make the world a better place. We are all highways for information to travel to the every corner of the planet. The Republicans may have the money, but we have the people. If we all do our part, we can drown their money with our knowledge and brotherhood. That is why I am honored to begin writing for Blogging Blue, and I thank Zach for the opportunity.
If you would like to hear our most recent podcast, click the link below. It will give you an idea of my style and the articles that are to come.
http://civildiscourse.podomatic.com