Who is Tulsi Gabbard? Tulsi is no traitor. Tulsi is a Patriot. A speaker at CPAC 2023. Tulsi is a former democrat that left that political party. Tulsi is a rising star, and her words need to be preserved, because she may have a lot to say in the future and we all may want to listen to her.
Tulsi is a very interesting person and an intriguing Generation X politician on the ascent. According to Biography.com, Tulsi was born in the Southern Pacific unincorporated territory of the American Samoa islands in 1981. She has a very diverse ethnic background. Gabbard is her maiden name. Her parents moved Tulsi and their family to Hawaii when Tulsi was a toddler. There, she was primarily home schooled before attending, and graduating from, Hawaii Pacific University where she studied business administration. She graduated in 2009.
One of the things that really made Tulsi stand out from other democrat politicians was her military service. This is a rarity among most democrats in her age group. Tulsi joined the Hawaii National Guard in 2002. She was 21 years old. She was assigned as a “medical specialist” and in 2004 she was deployed to Iraq and served in a combat zone. After her first tour she attended and graduated from Alabama Military Academy’s Accelerated Officer Candidate school in 2007. In 2008 she volunteered and was deployed to Kuwait where she worked training Kuwait National Guard forces.
Who is Tulsi Gabbard policy wise? Tulsi is against American intervention and senseless war. She believes in prioritizing domestic issues affecting American families and is an advocate for peace. She harbors some moderate policy positions such as universal healthcare, lower drug costs and limiting some immigration. Her progressive policy support includes decriminalizing marijuana, criminal justice/incarceration reform and moving towards exclusive green energy by banning fracking and ending fossil fuels. Considering the current state of politics in 2023, overall, she could be best labeled a Centrist and definitely as an Independent.
The Gabbard family has a background in democrat party politics. Tulsi followed her father and entered politics at the age of 21 (the same year that she enlisted in the HNG) becoming the youngest member of the Hawaii state legislature. Her role in elected democrat party politics continued as she was elected to the Honolulu city council and later elected to the US House of Representatives. She served Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District for 4 terms (8 years). In democrat party politics she served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committe. In 2019 Tulsi ran for president, seeking the 2020 democrat presidential nomination. She had some serious stakes in the democrat party and could have been a great asset for building the party as the Baby Boomer generation makes way for Generation X and for Millennials.
Then, on 11 October 2022, she announced that she was leaving the democrat party!
This was a big hit to the progressive movement and the democrat party. In analyzing this decision, more questions get raised than answers. Some would include: Has the democrat party moved so far to the left that there is no room for centrists or independent thinkers? Are veterans that want to put America first unwelcome in the democrat party? What has Tulsi seen from the inside that makes her feel the need to so dramatically distance herself from the platform? Many of these questions were answered in her public departure statement.
So now, we have just started to answer the question, “Who is Tulsi Gabbard?” Stay Tuned. We will see much more to come from Tulsi Gabbard in the near future.
