Election Day '06 - the Long, Rambling, Uncut Post...
I tried all flamin evening to try to write for NaNo. As soon as I remembered there was election coverage on, I kinda said 'futz that' and turned on CNN [not fox news, sorry] to watch the results.
Yes, I voted.
And for the first time in my life, I voted Republican for something. I voted for our Governor-elect, Charlie Crist. I am not overly dissatisfied with Jim Davis and his performance [?] or lack thereof in Congress, but Crist has a proven track record of looking out for the state. Hell, compared to some of the other Republicans on the ticket, he's pretty much spotless. I've heard just all sorts of bad things said about every other Republican candidate running here except him. And how's this - he's a Republican that would allow civil unions. Neat, huh? On a more personal note, I also had the pleasure of meeting him when I was in school when he came to speak to one of my classes and even then, when he was in state office, he was very accessible and very personable and very patient with the people that wanted to speak with him. It wasn't even a campaign setting. He was just cool like that. I'm sure that Jim Davis wouldn't have made a [bad] governor, but I just didn't think his qualifications measured up to Charlie Crist's.
That's just me, mileage may vary on that one.
Now, I'm hanging out in a chatroom, where there are a fair number of Democrats that voted straight Democratically. They're young, and they're entitled. My only words of advice was this - when you're young, and idealistic, you kinda hang your hopes on one party or the other and you kinda live and die on what they do. But as one gets older, your politics aren't shaped so much by your ideals, but by one's experiences in life. And the older I get, the more I realize that it's true - Idealistic Angela would vote Democrat almost yellowdogishly, but the reality is that a part of me on certain things is leaning more towards the right.
Now before a few of you on my friends list start panicking, I didn't say far right, I didn't say right wing, and I didn't say that I'm hopping on the Novak / Buchanan / fox news bandwagon. On some things, I lean right. Money - I'm a little conservative. I don't think that throwing money at problems or asking government to solve every little issue is the way to go for me. Socially, I'm liberal - I believe in to each their own and government shouldn't dictate to me what I should do or how I feel about someone.
Anyway. This election, more than a few others, has made me look at life and how my political thoughts have formed over time. I said to my friend Gil-chan that before I read the JC Watts book What Color Is A Conservative? I didn't realize that there were black Republicans in existence in [today's] America - I only thought they existed in the post-Reconstruction South. [And we see how long that lasted.] When I was 5, I blamed the Republicans for increasing the price of Happy Meals. Before Reagan was elected, I could hand Daddy a 2 dollar bill and he's get my Happy Meal and have change for my piggy bank. After that, not so much. I grew up believing that all Republicans were evil - not so much from my own experience, but because that's what my parents believed. Like I said before, growing up I had my idealism, but then real life kicks you in the teeth. I finally became old enough to distrust Republicans on principle - the abortion debate being the crucial thing for me, but also when 1994 came around, they stood on the Christian Conservative platform and seemed intent on blurring the line between church and state.
Another aside from me: I'm agnostic. I believe in [a] god, but not necessarily in [your] god. I think religion is a very personal decision and something that neither party should lay claim on, and I don't think that it should claim it in order for people to vote one way or the other. Don't tell me how to worship or who to worship. Hate that.
It scared me that so many people of 'God' started standing up and trying to dictate to the rest of us how things ought to be. And mostly they were Republicans. Those people scared me in a way, as if they wanted to turn American into a theocracy instead of a democracy. Their religious views got in the ways of their politics, and at some point, it became inevitable that their indiviual hypocricies [spelling?] got in their way [see Newt Gingrich]. Anyway, I came out of the 90's pretty much on fire against the Republicans - how could they try to cut off government funds for the poor, or the people that most needed help, etc etc etc.
Then I read that JC Watts book.
I started thinking about how my parents pulled themselves out of segregated times and never asked for handouts from anyone - government or otherwise, how they worked hard and saved the best they could so that I could be raised right - especially since Ma had been debilitated by a stroke early in her life and Daddy had nothing more than the barest of high school educations. Neither one of them went on welfare, they just worked harder. It sickens me that people perfectly able to work sit around, spit out kids, and collect checks for it.
I feel this turning into a 'do I have to be black today' rant. *sighs* I don't want it to because I have so much to be proud of as someone who's black. I could have been so many things and my life could have turned out in so many ways - I came from a poor as dirt minority-filled neighborhood and was the only person in it to go to college my senior year in high school [1992]. On full scholarship. I could have been a crack whore, or spitting out kids and living in the projects. I could have let all my dreams go by the wayside because of where I was from. But I had parents who cared about me and while heaven knows I've fought like cats and dogs with them, I'm thankful for them being a pain in my ass because that pain got me through 16 years of school. Why, oh WHY can't other parents do the same for their kids? Especially black parents? I mean hell, for what it's worth, I could have been a single mom but Maddie's dad is committed to being a part of her life, no matter HOW much we get on each others' nerves [and boy howdy he's tap-danced on mine]. He's going to be a responsible father whether he and I get along or not.
Man, I'm rambling. But the point of Mr. Watts' book was also that he came from nothing but hard work, and hard knocks and he's made something of himself because he worked hard for it. That shouldn't be a Republican POV, that should be an everyone POV. He was honestly the first Republican I felt I could trust and respect.
So I found that coming full circle today as I voted for a Republican for the first time ever. I voted for someone I could trust and respect. I think if you took away the party affiliation, I'd have still voted for that guy.
Moral of the story: Everyone's not colored by their party affiliation. Someday, we can actually look past the affilliation and pay more attention to the issues - not everyone of one party votes one way and we shouldn't either.
I think I drank too much Mountain Dew.
In other news, NaNo today was a wash once I got hooked on CNN election coverage. That, and Anderson Cooper is a real cutie.
Ta, possums.
Yes, I voted.
And for the first time in my life, I voted Republican for something. I voted for our Governor-elect, Charlie Crist. I am not overly dissatisfied with Jim Davis and his performance [?] or lack thereof in Congress, but Crist has a proven track record of looking out for the state. Hell, compared to some of the other Republicans on the ticket, he's pretty much spotless. I've heard just all sorts of bad things said about every other Republican candidate running here except him. And how's this - he's a Republican that would allow civil unions. Neat, huh? On a more personal note, I also had the pleasure of meeting him when I was in school when he came to speak to one of my classes and even then, when he was in state office, he was very accessible and very personable and very patient with the people that wanted to speak with him. It wasn't even a campaign setting. He was just cool like that. I'm sure that Jim Davis wouldn't have made a [bad] governor, but I just didn't think his qualifications measured up to Charlie Crist's.
That's just me, mileage may vary on that one.
Now, I'm hanging out in a chatroom, where there are a fair number of Democrats that voted straight Democratically. They're young, and they're entitled. My only words of advice was this - when you're young, and idealistic, you kinda hang your hopes on one party or the other and you kinda live and die on what they do. But as one gets older, your politics aren't shaped so much by your ideals, but by one's experiences in life. And the older I get, the more I realize that it's true - Idealistic Angela would vote Democrat almost yellowdogishly, but the reality is that a part of me on certain things is leaning more towards the right.
Now before a few of you on my friends list start panicking, I didn't say far right, I didn't say right wing, and I didn't say that I'm hopping on the Novak / Buchanan / fox news bandwagon. On some things, I lean right. Money - I'm a little conservative. I don't think that throwing money at problems or asking government to solve every little issue is the way to go for me. Socially, I'm liberal - I believe in to each their own and government shouldn't dictate to me what I should do or how I feel about someone.
Anyway. This election, more than a few others, has made me look at life and how my political thoughts have formed over time. I said to my friend Gil-chan that before I read the JC Watts book What Color Is A Conservative? I didn't realize that there were black Republicans in existence in [today's] America - I only thought they existed in the post-Reconstruction South. [And we see how long that lasted.] When I was 5, I blamed the Republicans for increasing the price of Happy Meals. Before Reagan was elected, I could hand Daddy a 2 dollar bill and he's get my Happy Meal and have change for my piggy bank. After that, not so much. I grew up believing that all Republicans were evil - not so much from my own experience, but because that's what my parents believed. Like I said before, growing up I had my idealism, but then real life kicks you in the teeth. I finally became old enough to distrust Republicans on principle - the abortion debate being the crucial thing for me, but also when 1994 came around, they stood on the Christian Conservative platform and seemed intent on blurring the line between church and state.
Another aside from me: I'm agnostic. I believe in [a] god, but not necessarily in [your] god. I think religion is a very personal decision and something that neither party should lay claim on, and I don't think that it should claim it in order for people to vote one way or the other. Don't tell me how to worship or who to worship. Hate that.
It scared me that so many people of 'God' started standing up and trying to dictate to the rest of us how things ought to be. And mostly they were Republicans. Those people scared me in a way, as if they wanted to turn American into a theocracy instead of a democracy. Their religious views got in the ways of their politics, and at some point, it became inevitable that their indiviual hypocricies [spelling?] got in their way [see Newt Gingrich]. Anyway, I came out of the 90's pretty much on fire against the Republicans - how could they try to cut off government funds for the poor, or the people that most needed help, etc etc etc.
Then I read that JC Watts book.
I started thinking about how my parents pulled themselves out of segregated times and never asked for handouts from anyone - government or otherwise, how they worked hard and saved the best they could so that I could be raised right - especially since Ma had been debilitated by a stroke early in her life and Daddy had nothing more than the barest of high school educations. Neither one of them went on welfare, they just worked harder. It sickens me that people perfectly able to work sit around, spit out kids, and collect checks for it.
I feel this turning into a 'do I have to be black today' rant. *sighs* I don't want it to because I have so much to be proud of as someone who's black. I could have been so many things and my life could have turned out in so many ways - I came from a poor as dirt minority-filled neighborhood and was the only person in it to go to college my senior year in high school [1992]. On full scholarship. I could have been a crack whore, or spitting out kids and living in the projects. I could have let all my dreams go by the wayside because of where I was from. But I had parents who cared about me and while heaven knows I've fought like cats and dogs with them, I'm thankful for them being a pain in my ass because that pain got me through 16 years of school. Why, oh WHY can't other parents do the same for their kids? Especially black parents? I mean hell, for what it's worth, I could have been a single mom but Maddie's dad is committed to being a part of her life, no matter HOW much we get on each others' nerves [and boy howdy he's tap-danced on mine]. He's going to be a responsible father whether he and I get along or not.
Man, I'm rambling. But the point of Mr. Watts' book was also that he came from nothing but hard work, and hard knocks and he's made something of himself because he worked hard for it. That shouldn't be a Republican POV, that should be an everyone POV. He was honestly the first Republican I felt I could trust and respect.
So I found that coming full circle today as I voted for a Republican for the first time ever. I voted for someone I could trust and respect. I think if you took away the party affiliation, I'd have still voted for that guy.
Moral of the story: Everyone's not colored by their party affiliation. Someday, we can actually look past the affilliation and pay more attention to the issues - not everyone of one party votes one way and we shouldn't either.
I think I drank too much Mountain Dew.
In other news, NaNo today was a wash once I got hooked on CNN election coverage. That, and Anderson Cooper is a real cutie.
Ta, possums.