The other day I was sitting at the bar of a well known chain restaurant waiting for my take out food. The place was quite packed for a Monday evening. As I sat sipping on a pepsi the conversation around the bar turned from casual sports chit chat to politics. I promise I was not the instigator of this conversation. It was a matronly woman sitting one over to my right. I believe with the exception of the bartender she was the only woman in our little section of the restaurant.
The first statement had to do with the recent visit from Barak Obama to a local high school then to an Indian Reservation. The woman glowed as she spoke about how he dripped with charisma. I thought for sure I was in the presence of an Obamamaniac. However, she followed this up by saying, "of course I'll be voting for Hillary in the primary". This is when her husband got up and left.
Those of you who know much about me understand that holding my tongue is only rarely a quality which I espouse. This was not one of those occassions. As I proceeded to grill this woman about what she believed, why she believed it, and why she was voting democrat, this is what I learned.
She's voting for Hillary because:
She is tired of the government handouts.
She believes in the swift enforcement of the death penalty.
She doesn't belive in abortion.
She believes gun rights should be protected.
Wants lower taxes.
Wants to secure the border.
Wants to end the war.
Wants free healthcare.
She has never voted republican. Hates George W. Bush. I wonder how many other democrats don't know what their party really believes.
8 comments:
And how many Republicans don't know what their party believes/ Why single out one party's ignorance and ignore the other?
She voting for Hillary because:
She is tired of the government handouts.
She believes in the swift enforcement of the death penalty.
She doesn't belive in abortion.
She believes gun rights should be protected.
Wants lower taxes.
Wants to secure the border.
Wants to end the war.
Wants free healthcare.
I wonder how many other democrats don't know what their party really believes.
-Well said. It is quite apparent she has absolutely no idea what in the world she is talking about when comparing her views to Hillary's platform.
Are you sure you didn't forget an "n't in reasons 1 and 4, while accidentally adding it to #3? And are you sure she didn't say she believes in the swift "elimination" of the death penalty?
I mean, being out in the mountains, maybe the wind was blowing so hard you didn't hear her correctly?
So the one REAL question I have for you is, O Great Holder of Tongue, what did you say in response to that all?
to deadmule: I would say because he didn't speak with a republican who's backwards on most of their platforms versus voting preference
Deadmule, That is fair enough. This isn't really an indictment of the democratic party, but rather an odd statement about perception. It is after all reality. As I questioned this woman it was clear that she believed Hillary agreed with her on each of these points.
As a former Republican, I'll say that the GOP has destroyed all trust. For the past 8-16 years they have shamelessly courted the Christian vote by promising legislation that would somehow restore or maintain Christian values. However, there has been no delivery. We are no closer now to overturning Roe v Wade, stopping unethical cloning, or protecting the sanctity of marriage than we were under the Clinton administration. And we have recently lived under a period of time where we had a Republican president, Republican congress, and conservative justices all at the same time. They've taken advantage of our optimism and our faith for their own political gain.
That said, the Dems aren't any better - they're methods are just different. This is why I've come to believe that Christians sould register independent and pour prayer into their decisions. Gone are the days when Christians could be allegiant to one party or the other.
Jeff
I'm afraid this woman is far too typical. The average voter cannot articulate accurately the platforms of the two parties or of the individual candidates. I've seen it both on television and in real life.
Personally, I think that suffrage should be limited to people who can answer substantive questions about American history and government and that can identify for the election officials (before they look at a ballot) the names of the candidates, their party affiliations, and three of their individual positions.
Jeff, I've always known you were a dem. But I had no idea you were like Anakin Skywalker pre-vader. ;)
The Dem's will take care of all of that...WOW, have I got some more research to do!
Godfather
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