My Republican World
So I go to work and I hear such statements:
“If Barack and Al Gore want this country to go to hell, then they can have it” -pissed co-worker the morning after Al Gore endorsement
“….There aren’t going to be any good jobs for our kids.” -response to if Barack gets elected
“Barack doesn’t know what he’s doing” -response regarding his anti-terrorism ambitions
“Now, I’m no Democrat but economic progress is best when there’s a Democratic president and a Republican Congress” -co-worker playing it safe at the watercooler
Note1: “Now, I’m no Democrat…” frequently preludes controversial statements around my workplace.
Note2: Corporate America is SO republican, especially Oil Companies. Now usually, my collegues usually tone it down on the ‘Barack-bashing’ when I’m around. It’s a bit flattering. But every now and then, I turn a corner to an awkward moment.
So, I hear all this…and I’m just speechless because:
1. I’ve been taught to not speak politics in the workplace
2. I’m an intern that doesn’t want to step on toes [especially those of passionate, 'talk-radio listenin', Republican engineers.
3. I wouldn't even know what to say....
I WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY!
..and that's the most embarassing part of it.
I've encountered this before. Now, I live in Texas. A Red State, mind you. I go to the Univ. of Texas. Thus I have a lot of Republican friends. And even around a few of them, every now and then I hear that comment to the tune of "Me=Republican>Democrat=You". And that hurts my feelings, 'cause I have nothing to say'. I still remember when I got chewed out by my republican friends in a 9th grade afterschool debate when it was Bush vs. Gore. I didn't know any of the policies of Al Gore, except that my mama and pastor supported him. My only defense was to point out that "Bush is a dumbass and stutters in his speeches". [I wonder where I got that from... messy cable news] <shakes my head> And I didn’t deserve to win that debate with such ignorance. And the superstitious part of me want to blame that ignorant argument for Gore’s lost.
So I’ll admit. I’m voting for Barack, but I really don’t know why. I trust him, but I don’t know. I’ve personally been to his rallies, but I still don’t know why. I voted for him in the primary, but I don’t know why.
And by ‘why’… I mean ‘how’. I don’t know how he’s going to do it. He has a method.
We all know the basics of Barack, right. He wants to implement universal healthcare, cease the War in Iraq, invest in college education, create more jobs, etc. That’s all fine and dandy, but I haven’t even took the time to look into how he’s going to get that done. I’m just ‘trusting’ him…cause I’m heard the man speak. He brought me hope. I believe he can change things. The reason that I’m embarassed is that I don’t even know enough about him or his policies to defend him. Like most of his supporters, this is the most excited I’ve been about an election ever…yet I remain passive towards learning more. I’ll admit it now and say that the fact that he’s black DOES inspire me. My friend, Reggie, helped me embrace that. Race IS a factor, an inspiring factor…for me, at least. Furthermore, I’m getting too old to just be ‘going with the flow’ and blindly voting. If I’m going to be for Barack, then doggoneit, I gotta be FOR Barack. I got to arm myself…cause I’m getting tired of being on ‘hush’, ’cause I’m ignorant of my own candidate. It’s time for me to take ownership. CNN/MSNBC/Fox News will not control my thoughts on this guy.
I watched the primaries quite religiously this past semester. My roomate, Sirak, and I had the primary results on 3 TVs in our apartment. I recall waking up to my TV, which I left on from the night before, and Barack was giving his speech on race in America, in response to the Jeremiah Wright mess.
That speech touched me [and I don't care how cheesy that sounds]. I was in awe and so impressed with how he addressed that matter with class, yet candid. I was proud of him and for him. I knew I wanted this man to represent me and my country.
I should know about my government more. I should watch C-SPAN more. I should read Newsweek. This is my country, and I’m clueless. I need to know when congress is in session and are making decisions that will affect me. Political ignorance…. it’s a shame. I have the resources, the mind, and the time to learn it, so I’m going to get to it,
“I’m a red-blooded, flag-waving, God-loving American. “[Borat]
In a way, I’m a bit intimidated to research Barack’s policies. I have some concerns:
- Will I really understand it? I don’t know the nooks and crannys of what makes a policies work. For instance, will universal healthcare work? It’s possible, but what will it cost for it to work?
- Is McCain really that bad? I’m in no place to judge this guy, I don’t even exactly know his plans yet.
- Will I find something that I don’t like about Barack or his policies? If so, then what?
At this point, I know some of ya’ll might say…”Justin, stop whining, and just vote for Barack”. But I refuse to be as ignorant as others expect. If I’m going to support someone, then I must be a force.
So my outspoken Republican friends, colleagues, co-workers, relatives (I have a few)… I respect you. But I’m coming after you.
So friends, join me. Know your candidate. Better yet, Know your opponent.
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
I think there are a lot of young voters who are “jumping the bandwagon” without understanding the issues and I’m glad you are taking part in getting to know your candidate. I think a great source is advocacy groups for specific issues that are bipartisan and track each candidate’s position on certain issues. And I think if you do some digging and find that you don’t agree with your candidate’s positions, that’s ok, better to know that now than after you cast your vote.
I’m not a fan of voting for the “better of the two evils” but over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that agenda setting and politics IS really about who is the loudest and in order to make progress you got to be loud and in the two party system that is american democracy, the megaphones are in the hands of the RNC and DNC and all their supporters.
Good post Justin, I’m glad you are thinking about this!!
Ramya
p.s. not ALL engineers are republicans…but I would say, understandably, a lot are fiscally conservative, myself included.
Ramya Sankar said this on June 25, 2008 at 4:30 pm |
Man, this guy is earnest! Justin, you’re absolutely right to want to inform yourself. It’s not difficult. Both candidates websites will have all of their policies stated plainly, you should check them out. Also, if you pay attention to their speeches, or dare I say, some news analysis (stick to CNN’s “Best Political Team”) you’ll get the jist of what the issues are. They’re usually repetitive.
Two suggestions: Don’t get roped into “Democrat” “Republican” red v. blue nonsense. Those terms are meaningless and change every election year. Get a hold of the issues that matter to you and support candidates that best represent your ideals.
Secondly – Don’t sit on the side lines anymore! You’re already intelligent and once you’re well informed you shouldn’t tolerate ignorance or sit on the fence. The more you know about an issue/candidate the more difficult it is to be ambivalent. Obama and McCain have some really significant differences and if you stand for one you will probably be against the other.
That’s what democracy is all about!
Reggie said this on June 25, 2008 at 7:54 pm |
Hey Justin. I really enjoyed your blog. I usually find myself reading things and just clicking the big, red box in the corner due to boredom. However, I found your blog to be very interesting and refreshingly honest.
I think its good that you’re taking the time to look into the candidates with an open mind instead of just going with the flow. I was just thinking that in addition to researching the candidates individually that you could also look into one of those web sites where you can take a quiz and see which candidate is best for you. I think they really work and aren’t just set up for the outcome to always be one particular candidate. Here’s one that I took.
http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html
It was just a nifty tool to use because I didn’t feel like sifting through all the political issues.
And a side note… I think its good that you haven’t gotten into political discussion with your colleagues and I think you should try your best to keep it that way, especially since you tend to be the odd man out. Just because everyone else discusses it doesn’t mean you should because things can get messy. Not to sound like your mom, but I was just throwing it out there
Anywho, great blog!
Channon said this on June 25, 2008 at 9:33 pm |
I feel you, Justin… at the end of the day, it can be hard to form opinions about a person based on their actual policies, because of all the bullshit that the media floats around the elections process. Lapel pins? Jeremiah White? Etc. Shit is crazy. At the end of the day, people vote for who they like most or who they dislike least, and a lot of times they’re not even voting on policy. The whole election process is based on buzz words and propaganda and whatnot.
Not to mention that so many of these policies probably won’t even get passed the way they are laid out now anyway. Once in office, Congress and the cabinet around the president will all have their say and policies will be re-thought and reformed.
Personally, I like to listen to both sides, I don’t consider myself a democrat, or a republican for that matter…. I’m me, f*ck a party. Both sides have compelling arguments and both sides tend to be make strong points on certain issues, but one thing I’ve noticed about republicans is they tend to be very stubborn. They don’t listen to what democrats have to say, or even acknowledge democrat policies or ideas at all. They think they are right and have all the answers. And the real strong republicans, they blame everything on democrats – they’ll never acknowledge that a democrat president ever did anything good for the country. Most people believe that FDR’s policies are what helped the country get out of the Great Depression, yet the strong republicans will say he hindered the process and we actually got out of the Depression slower because of his policies.
I mean it’s just funny to me, how republicans seem so stuck on their ways, but maybe that’s partly because except for Bill Clinton, they’ve won every presidential election since LBJ, so they haven’t had to reshape and reform their policies and positions the way the democrats have.
The craziest part to me though, is Economic policy. Republicans think they are the kings of economic policy, probably because a lot of them are rich, but they really believe in this “trickle-down” theory. But, yet, the trickle-down theory isn’t working – the gap between the rich and the poor is ever growing larger… do you see anything trickling down? I don’t. So, republicans offer tax breaks to people who “provide” jobs, and lower tax brackets for capital gains and dividends for people who invest their money, so in the end, the richest people in the country are paying 15% of their income in taxes, while working people are paying 30%. That’s crazy. Obama claims he’ll attempt to fix that problem by raising capital gains and dividend taxes…. but, that doesn’t fix the problem. Well, it does in the fact that it causes the rich to pay more taxes, but it also hurts growth and that’s what the republicans get on Obama for, because it pinches the young guys and the small investors, the guys trying to “come-up”. You can’t have growth in a country if you’re pinching and taxing the young people on the come-up. Obama’s tax plan is flawed, but so are the Republican tax plans…. a real, thorough tax plan can be written. That’s what I want to see.
At the end of the day, Obama has more leeway and more chance to actually bring change and actually get some things accomplished than McCain does. McCain basically has to run very close to republican ideals in order to keep the republican party happy. McCain was against the Bush tax cuts as a Senator, but now he’s for them, because he has to be to have the full Republican support he needs. And it’s not just tax-cuts, now that he’s the republican nominee, McCain has had to move more to the right on a lot of his policies. Obama on the other hand is so inspiring, that if he were to win the nomination, he basically would be bringing a battered democratic party back to life, a party that hasn’t won many presidential elections lately. So, if he does that, the Democratic Congress will follow his lead, and his ideas and policies have a better chance of being authentic, because he’s not at the mercy of the party, he’s more like the savior of the party.
I don’t know…. that’s just how I see it….
William G. Cash said this on June 25, 2008 at 10:01 pm |
^ Listen to this man.
Reggie said this on June 26, 2008 at 7:41 am |
GP! GET IT! I concur with the whole I’m not a Republican or Democrat idea. I hate how people pigeon hole you based off of your answer, when my ideas span the political spectrum. As an econ major I’m surrounded by vigilante Liberal Arts Democrats, but in my next business class I’ll be sitting next to staunch Republicans. I think we need to fix the economic divisions in our society as well as our schools, our communities, and our businesses. Still, at the same time I’m wanting the government to spend more to help, I think it should get back to the good ole days when we were still a creditor nation and the dollar wasn’t shot to hell. I don’t know what the answer is and I definitely don’t know how to get there. Truthfully, I’m disillusioned with politics and the extent to which it’s trivialized as the media treats Obama and Hillary like they do Angelina and Brad. But, at the end of the day, I like Obama’s promises more than McCain’s. I think his radically alternative approaches will be what it takes to turn our lazy country’s behind around. Hopefully he continues to fight against the influences of American politics and keeps his swagger.
I think as far as the whole corporate environment goes it’s better to keep your cards close for the time being. My personality is already so much louder than everyone else at this manufacturing client site so the last thing I need to do is play up being the young college student who still has the audacity to hope for change. But who says “we’ll be there for 100 years if we need to be?!” What kind of statement is that? Couldn’t he have said 5 or 10? Plus, McCain’s really old. I know that shouldn’t matter but if race gets to come into play then age definitely should! I know his mama is like 124 and he has really good genes but still, he doesn’t come across in the same way (just compare them on Ellen
) and that’ll matter with the insane international relations he’ll have to deal with. Super conservatives say Obama is all rhetoric and no substance but they’re just mad McCain isn’t inspiring millions in the same way.
I was split on Hillary and Obama and wasn’t really sure until that whole ludicrous gas tax holiday. Everyone is doing what it takes to get elected, Obama included (flirting with the ethanol industry for one), but at a certain point you’re just outright lying to the public.
Educate yourself Justin and then share the wealth. Not everyone cares like you do!
holly denise said this on June 27, 2008 at 5:53 pm |