When I was a kid there were two Democrats in my family. My grandma Law was one of them. The sweetest lady on the face of the earth. Grandpa was a Republican to the bone. He was a sweet guy too. Only one time did I ever hear them argue politics and they both dropped the F-bomb. These people never cursed. It was truly shocking.
That’s what politics does to people.
In college I was a member of the College Republicans, and president of that student organization during a non-election year. This was during the H. W. Bush period. We debated democrats and always had a good time. Sometimes even over a few beers after hours. We’d get snarky, but never to the level that it is today.
Democrats of the old days talked about defending the poor, the downtrodden, and standing up for the proverbial little man. We knew that it was based on a fairly good argument that greed was an evil that created inequality, but then they felt the government was just the entity to correct all of this. That was where we differed.
All my grandparents are gone now, and as our families evolved so did our politics. Interestingly enough, there are again two democrats in my family. However, they are nothing like the democrats of the old days.
Family gatherings like the ones of the early years are almost non-existent because of the sheer arrogance and hypocrisy that comes out of their mouths. Grandma would have never, ever talked like they do about various issues. Probably because the subjects never came up.
The complaints about the rich and the evil 1% get to me the most. These bother me because these family members have incomes that would be more than all of our families combined. They have no idea, or have forgotten, what it is like to make sure there is enough money in the bank to pay bills.
I’m not sure how the debate started, but they were on a rant about evil corporations. I said, “Okay, if you really feel that way, then go around this million dollar house and get rid of everything you have made by a corporation.” I get a scoff and an arrogant grin. You know, because I don’t see the light.
Capitalism gave them all they have, yet now they are proclaimed Democratic Socialists.
Perhaps you have noticed something similar in your family. I hear about this a lot, that Thanksgiving dinners with family are a thing of the past because of divisive politics. It’s incredibly sad to me. I miss how we could just enjoy each other and not think about our differences.
Now we have to listen to why God doesn’t exist, and that God fearing people are racist. We have to be schooled about the wisdom of Michael Moore and the errors of our constitution. We hear about having rights to free this, free that, and that the rich need to fork it out, but whenever we go to their house to visit I never see any of those free things sitting on a platter when you walk in the door.
Oh, I’m sorry, it has to go through the tax system. My bad.
To be fair, Republicans have let us down, too. I haven’t been a Republican for many years now, because I haven’t seen a conservative among the bunch worth their salt. Yeah, that’s right, a conservative. You know, the not so new breed of white, evil Nazis who hate women, anyone non-white or LGBT.
It’s a terrible label, and one that usually comes after you expel logic in their faces, because they have nothing else to shut you down. The saddest part of their position is that it does nothing to help minorities, but create more divisiveness, when the conservatives I know are 100% pro-equality.
But the new Dem-Soc’s don’t want equality, they want minorities, women, and the LGBT to have more rights than others, in return being unequal, racist and sexist. The hope we have is that nearly all of the minority communities have been run by failing democratic governments and policies for decades, and some groups are beginning to see truth and leaving the Democratic Party. Hence the existence of BLEXIT, the Gay Conservatives, etc. They feel like they’ve been used and are taking action. Good for them!
So where have all the “normal” Democrats gone? I say this in jest, because I think a majority of us have changed as well. Or have we changed? Maybe this era of social networking has merely pushed us all a little over the edge.
Maybe if my grandma was alive today, she’d be spouting off some of the same rhetoric, following the same narratives, rooting for Creepy Joe or Bernie “Hide your Wallet” Sanders. Who knows?
All I do know is that I am in great fear for our country. This panel of democratic presidential candidates are spouting off ideals that one would have ever dreamed of hearing ten years ago. Trillions of dollars for the “Green New Deal” when we already have a $22 trillion national debt? And that is not a democratic problem, that is a “too big of government” problem.
Free healthcare and college for everyone? The removal of our electoral college? And mandatory buyback of guns! Lord almighty! How can they even think of promising these things?
I remember going to the polls in the 2016 election and holding my nose when I flipped the lever for Trump. Like many that helped elect him, we felt we had no alternative. Since when does a president use junior high school, class clown-like communication skills to run the most powerful country in the free world?
Unconventional, rude, childish, yes, but he took on the establishment and got things done. He has made honest attempts to deliver on every campaign promise he made. Isn’t that what we’ve always wanted?
The disdain, or outright hate for him, by the establishment, democrat or republican, is probably why we don’t see any normal democrats anymore. They have learned that the millennial and even generation Z voting base favor a larger government, and an “anyone but Trump” attitude.
Not a day goes by that I don’t see some kind of post ridiculing, deservedly, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and the “Quad,” ad nauseam, and along with all the other stuff in the world that I wake up to it almost seems surreal.
I honestly miss the days when political candidates were just corrupt. How about you?