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going to the mat
Posted on | November 1, 2008 | 17 Comments
SB and I just got back from a wedding. I had a heated discussion with a woman at the reception, who started the conversation with “If the Democrats win the election, I’m moving to New Mexico!” I responded with, “if the Democrats DON’T win, I’m moving to Canada!” The conversation quickly deteriorated from there. She honestly believes that Obama wants to take away everything she has, everything she’s worked for. I told her if she doesn’t make more than $250,000 per year, she has nothing to worry about! And she doesn’t – she volunteered that she makes $150,000 a year, and her husband’s retired and had over $300,000 in medical bills last year, completely covered by Medicare, except for $100. I said it sounded like socialized medicine to me.
I just don’t get it. My refrain became www.factcheck.org – seriously, I said it at least a half dozen times. Politicians are fear mongers and people, I think, like to be scared. They like the idea that big brother aka “the government” is going to protect them, whether it be from outside invaders or those with ideas different from their own. And I bet, when it gets down to it, their ideas and my ideas and your ideas aren’t all that different. There might be points of contention, but I bet we could reach enough common ground that everyone could leave with a smile. But I think that people have become so entrenched in the way things have run – and been run- in the past — you’re either with us or against us — that they don’t see a way around it. They can’t conceive that there IS any other way. That’s why this election is so important. We not only need a generational change, we need an ideological change.
These folks talked about how they loved Birmingham, she works downtown, but ohmygoodness, they hate going to Southside because of the vagrants who panhandle. I used to live on Southside and just said to SB last night that I wished we still lived there – I miss the cool shops and the health food store that’s not a big box and the fact that we could walk to a grocery store (individually owned) or the Indian restaurant. Yes, there are panhandlers, both downtown and on Southside, and maybe I’m just more tolerant. Maybe when I see them, I see a problem with society as a whole and a problem with trickle-down economics that failed to trickle down, I see them as people who’ve had a hard go of it and who aren’t any different than most of us – a few paychecks can make a world of difference – and I want to help them, and to fix, somehow, the society that sees them as throwaways. I don’t want to go back to my McMansion (which I don’t have)(nor want) and forget about them and say I’m not going to Southside again because it’s just too much reality to deal with.
I want to go to the mat.
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17 Responses to “going to the mat”
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November 1st, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
Did you mean Mexico? Did she? Cuz how’s moving to NM going to help her?
Gah, I have this argument with my DH all the time. (Thank god he’s too lazy to vote.) He sends me all this crap from his boss, and I go to snopes.com, find the article that disproves the dumb s*** they sent, and demand that he send it back to his boss. It’s the problem with the sound-bite politics. Gah.
It’s a good thing you didn’t start a fistfight at the wedding, though. ;-)
November 1st, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Do people remember that before Reagan was president, there were virtually no homeless? nor vagrant? nor panhandlers? nor need for food shelves?
November 1st, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Our electorate’s capacity to vote against interest astounds me. If you redistribute wealth toward the least wealthy, it’s socialism (which is inherently bad because…?), but redistribution towards the most wealthy is perfectly fine.
Although I guess I’d be prepared to vote against interest, myself. I don’t mind paying a little more in taxes (not that I’ll have to under the Obama plan) to help make sure everyone has access to education, healthcare, and a fair shake in general.
I try to stay away from political discussions, though. Since I’m a blue person in a red state, I figure no one agrees with me, and I can’t help thinking less of people after hearing some of the things they’re apt to say.
November 1st, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
Great post!!! I have two good friends (former co-workers) who occasionally have lunch together. They got into a polical argument and are no longer friends. The one for Obama is not a US citizen and has lived here for 30 years and does not wish to become a citizen (benefits better in Denmark when she returns). So she is not eligible to vote (sigh). I am an Obama supporter and live 90 miles south of the Canadian border in Vermont. I’ve thought of moving if the Bush era continues with McCain.
For a lighter side to things………..read my blog today regarding the political teddy bears…lol.
P.S. I’ve already voted for Obama
November 1st, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
Carrie @ #1: New Mexico, Old Mexico, what’s the difference??? (I kid, I kid!)
I have heard so many unbelievable fear-mongering rumors this year that I’m just sick of them. I don’t think the election is in the bag, and that worries me. A LOT. (Fingers crossed for Obama on Tuesday…)
November 1st, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
I’m just worried that it’s NOT going to be completely, unequivocally decided three days from now and I’m going to have a bit longer to work on my ulcer.
Good thing is, Canada? I’ll bet you get to wear more handknits than Alabama or Tucson….
Just sayin’.
November 2nd, 2008 @ 8:04 am
I can’t even talk to people like that. So many people live their lives in fear and the republicans know that.
November 2nd, 2008 @ 8:38 am
I had a conversation with someone last night and I was furious when he said, “Well, you can go and feel all good about voting for a black guy but if you have a mortgage and bills to pay then you won’t vote for him.” I have a mortgage and bills and I’m voting for Obama. I’m tired of being called anti-American by the Republicans because my view of America doesn’t match theirs!
November 2nd, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Oh, and I also meant to say that I told this person that the color of Obama’s skin has nothing to do with why he’s getting my vote. I’d vote for him if he was purple because of the ISSUES!
November 2nd, 2008 @ 9:14 am
that’s pretty funny if she said “new mexico.” duh.
you know, even if you make more than 250K, obama isn’t going to take all of your money. i mean seriously. americans have no idea what socialism is. compared to the rest of the world, obama is conservative.
and like you said, if she’s getting her healthcare paid for by medicare, she’s already a socialist. i mean honestly. the stupidity boggles.
well, i’ve always got france to go to. where the conservatives in power are more leftist than obama!
November 2nd, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Whenever I hear the socialism sound byte, I have this incredible, almost crippling, wave of frustration flow through me. I wonder if any of these people could even define socialism? I am such a stickler for knowing what your talking about and not regurgitating propaganda. Silly old me.
I will be voting against the real threat to my constitutional rights: the republican party.
November 2nd, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
AMEN, sister! I’ve tried very, very hard throughout this election year to listen to WHY people feel the way they do about a certain candidate, as opposed to HOW they could possibly be so mistaken, and I haven’t done very well at all at keeping my big mouth shut. But when I did, I actually was shocked at what the reasons some people had:
On Sarah Palin and why one might like her:
“She’s dynamic”
“She’s refreshing”
Seriously. That’s it.
On John McCain, and why they WON’T be voting for him:
“The way he treated his first wife was repulsive.” Which, sent me furiously searching for wtf he did to his first wife!
On Sarah Palin and why they won’t be voting Republican as usual:
“How could she let herself get pregnant at that age?”
And lastly, why they won’t be voting for Obama:
“If he wins, there will be riots; if he loses there will be riots.” This is quite possibly the MOST ignorant thing I’ve ever heard. In my life.
“He scares me to death.” Again, childlike ignorance.
“He’s a socialist AND a terrorist!” If that’s the case, I’d say he’s made quite an accomplishment, eh?
All I know is, I’ll be there bright and early. And one more thing – I don’t think anyone should be allowed to be outside the doors of the voting sites. I think they should have to stand 100 feet away like at abortion clinics. As a voter, I can’t wear a T-shirt endorsing either candidate yet they are allowed to stare at me as I enter, wear whatever they wish, and ask for my vote as I enter. It bugs me seriously.
November 2nd, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
There are a lot of Alabamians that blow my mind on the fearmongering that they embrace.
November 3rd, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
The overwhelming amount of fear mongering and willful ignorance I encounter here on a daily basis is outstanding. In Alabama the norm is to allow yourself to be lead blindly based on the side you choose or what your parents did before you. Perhaps I’m really just the foul things I get called for being a “liberal hippy” but my DH and I feel it’s best to research each candidate, good bad and ugly, before we choose who to vote for. Obama has been extremely nice by avoiding personal mudslinging and sticking to the issues. McCain/Palin on the other hand are two little piggies thrashing about in the mud hoping to cover everyone until they can no longer see.
November 3rd, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
Awesome.
We DO need an ideological change. I’m tired of arguing about right or left and money vs. rights (and with the die hard republican next to me who I KNOW is bigger than the tax argument – We share so many views outside of that one – her children will be fine whatever the capital gains and inheritance tax rates…) There IS common ground. There are a multitude of things that matter to all of us. I believe how we treat our people (not to mention other countries and cultures) our children and our environment are a direct reflection of our worth…
November 3rd, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
let’s just hope we are dancing in the streets tomorrow–i think we will be!!!!!
November 5th, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
The votes are in and tallied. America has spoken. Nothing else to discuss. We will sit back and wait to see how everything shakes out over the next four years. I want to participate in getting America back on her feet in some small way by making sure I buy from my LYS or LNS or buying from those within my own state first and then outside my state in other parts of the country. Anything to keep those people who feed my knitting habit in business. ;)