Yeah, that's fair. I decided to become politically active because I have certain values, and I would like to live in a society that values the same things I do. e.g,. equality, high socioeconomic mobility, education, etc.

It didn't look like society would do those things on its own, and if I criticized it for not doing those things but didn't at the very least vote on issues and candidates, then I was a hypocrite.

Given the things that I value, the Democrats more often at least claim to represent them. In California at the time, I had to register with one of the two major parties, or my voting options would be seriously limited. Thankfully, this just got fixed during the last election cycle.

I'm totally disillusioned by politicians, though. The only candidate for any political office that I've had strong positive feelings about since I started voting was Brown, and that was mostly based on what I found of his track record and what I think this state needs.

So I chose a political party out of necessity, and because even though I consciously try to hold my convictions lightly, I do still have some.

But I would still feel an overwhelming urge to wash after shaking a politician's hand.