What might have triggered this change I've noticed in myself?

Maybe because for the first time in a long time you feel like we really need this candidate to be elected.

I am the one who always says it doesn’t matter who the president is, but with Bernie in the race I feel that I have a duty to myself and my fellow Americans to make sure this man is elected.

^Jon will be voting for the first time in over 20 years thanks to Bernie.

Perhaps because you feel you have to speak up to counter some of the other rubbish on Facebook etc. Perhaps you’ve been shocked out of your apathy and want to use your voice to try to point people in a different direction. I have to say, I think it’s a good thing. Whether I would vote for Bernie I don’t know. I don’t have a vote in your elections so I’m not paying close attention. However, I will certainly be affected by your election result. So the more people who take things seriously, and really consider what different candidates stand for and speak up and make themselves heard, the better, I suspect I’d agree with your politics much more than many others. So please do vote and do speak up. The rest of the world can’t afford Donald Trump in the White House!

@dammitjanetfromvegas I’m right there with Jon, this is the 1st time in forever I feel strongly about a candidate and have pretty much been apolitical forever.
I’m a Bernie fan as well and will also be voting for the 1st time in decades. I have to keep veeery quiet around here though, I am surrounded by super hardcore republicans that think Bernie s a communist. haha

Perhaps because Bernie is the first political candidate in forever who is trustworthy, genuine, and relatively untainted by the whole game of “politics as usual”.

He has a genuine compassion for people which I haven’t seem since Bobby Kennedy.

That’s worth making a splash about so you feel passionately invested and act accordingly.

A lot of people felt that way about Obama but he ended up being a rather “business as usual type” in many critical ways; not totally, but enough to be disappointing overall.

Bernie is pretty much “what you see is what you get”. There is a refreshing lack of artifice about him. That’s SO RARE in politics that it’s worth getting passionate about.

So there’s really nothing wrong with you that a good dose of apathy wouldn’t cure, ha ha.

Stay just as you are now and don’t worry about it. It’s a good thing. Everybody else gets a chance to spread their views all over Facebook, so why shouldn’t you have a turn.

Anybody who can’t take the heat can just get out of the kitchen (or unfriend you). You’re spreading something positive so go ahead and keep right on doing it.

Faced with the stark choice of the Trumpster or Hellary, you’re most likely, with just cause, shocked into a state of urgency. Those two cannot & must not succeed, literally anyone else will do…just one english guy talking.

From what I have observed with you and your family over the years is you have really had to tough it out to provide for your family. Jon, from what you have shared, busts his ass day in and day out and you hold down the fort at home with what else you do at school with your kids. That is hardcore and you hold hopes that some leader candidate will at the very least provide continued hope that your lives will be better and not worse. Hillary is a strong woman and someone in your shoes would IMO be easily attracted to her strengths and leadership skills. Her controversies has sullied the waters to where your ability to truly trust her has been eroded away. Right behind her is Bernie who is championing the causes of people just like you who are not looking for welfare handouts but opportunity to have a shot of moving forward in your lives.

You recently moved to a new life and I am sure that was hard but now you are in your new life and you want someone you can put your faith in their leadership to deliver the vision you have for you and your family.

Knowing you I I think you would rather saw off your arm at the elbow than to hitch your wagon to the, as @Jerv so eleoquently put it, the Republican “Clown Car”. You are fired up and passionate and protective of what you have worked so hard to have and want in life and Bernie may be your best choice at this stage of the game.

@Cruiser for president! :-D

Maybe it helps you feel ok about moving away from Hillary. It reinforces for yourself why your decision to support Bernie was a good one.

I feel the Bern too. If I had a say in the primaries I would vote for him. However I think Hillary will have a easier path to the presidency. And at this point I can’t really deal with any of the Republican options.

I wish we could vote for Sweden for President.

The other options are all homophobic. Our nation is better than that.

If Bernie wins the nomination we will, for the first time in my lifetime have an election that really will set the entire direction for our future. It will be a choice between two completely opposing ideas on the role of government and no one will be “pivoting to the center” for the general election.
The last 8 years have been so polarized since the republicans won’t even support their own ideas if Obama decides to agree with them. They won’t take yes for an answer. As a result they have stopped doing any governing and just taken up posturing.
This election will determine whether our country will keep up with the modern world or cease to be relevant. The stakes are high. Everyone should be paying attention.

You see a real chance for change.

Don’t sweat it. It took me far too long to appreciate that POLITICS MATTER. The rich know it! Depending on your point of view, you’re either fortunate or cursed in catching on at all. Too many of us never do.

I think the choices are so stark and so scary this time that it is hard not to engage although for my own mental health, I am stepping back a bit this time.

I’ve been politically active for a long time, especially when it comes to my local government. All politics are local, even the presidential race. Now that you’ve been awakened from your apathy, find out what your local candidates are all about. Go in to the campaign HQ, make some phone calls, or even better, knock on some doors.

If anything will kill this form of government, it’s apathy.