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Right now: I'm about to start writing a new novel and will tell y'all the title as soon as we decide on it. :)

Thursday, October 28, 2004
The truth I've known since I was a teenager, now broken down and shared with those of you Americans who somehow never learned it...

You vote Republican if you're rich. You vote Democrat if you're not rich.

Personally, I don't think there's any shame in rich people wanting to keep what's theirs. Wouldn't you want to?

The shame comes in when the Republicans convince the stupider and more prudish/intolerant non-rich people to vote Republican for "moral" reasons.

Republicans are gay. They cheat on their spouses. They have abortions. They say bad words. Just like Democrats.

Maybe you're such a racist that you hate all Middle Eastern people and you love having America's youth flown over there to fight them like some big football or video game, whether or not the people getting killed ever did anything to you. Even though Bush started the war for money, and not because he hates the brown people like you do. And maybe that's why you're voting for Bush - because your hatred of the brown people surpasses all financial concerns.

If that's the case, I can't reason with you. But I just wanted to tell everyone else that if you're not rich or racist against Middle Eastern people, there's no reason to vote for Bush. He can't stop gayness or abortions. No one has EVER stopped that. Don't get confused. Just vote Democrat until you get rich. After you get rich, switch over to Republican.

Seriously. Take it from me. I've been living here my entire life and I love all of y'all. I'm not a politician, so I wouldn't lie to you. Vote Republican if you're rich. Vote Democrat if you're not rich.

And I'll let you know if that guideline ever changes.

 

6:40 AM #

Comments:

 Gwen, funny that you are bringing up the whole
rich/poor thing. A few weeks ago, my fiance asked
my dad if he was republican or democrat. My dad
responded "I'm a democrat b/c I am poor!!!"

Okay, well he's actually considered upper middle
class but he still considers himself poor b/c
he's not filthy rich. And he came to this country
with hardly any money so he still thinks he's
one of the poor.


# posted by Blogger MissCathee : 2:19 PM  

 Yup, that about sums it up. It's funny, cause when I was younger, my family were all democrats cause we were poor. Now that my brother has gone on to become a doctor, and therefore makes a lot of money, he's now republican. So your description fits that very well.

Then again my dad voted for Bush, and he's poor. But then again my dad is an old Asian man who loves war for some reason. He's still bitter about the whole 9/11 thing. I don't blame him...but I told him we should be fighting the right people...not just any ol' brown people.

Go figure.


# posted by Blogger Datty : 5:44 PM  

 Oh my God. So THAT'S what it is.


# posted by Blogger nice-girl : 5:55 PM  

 In the words of John McGlaughlin, "WRONG!"


# posted by Blogger R.T. Lemur : 9:58 PM  

 In general that may be true, but not out here in the Republic of San Francisco. I make a six-figure salary, and I've been a Democrat ever since I started to vote. In fact most other doctors I know out here are Democrats. There's even one Green guy who thinks Kerry is too mainstream. I do work with two Repubs, and both seem fairly reality-based. Then there's the woman who has a photo of George and Laura Bush by her desk -- she may have drank the Kool-Aid.


# posted by Blogger Sue : 10:19 AM  

 R.T. Lemur, it seems that you watch toooo much PBS. It took me a whole hour and a half to figure out who John McGlaughlin (of the McGlaughlin Group) was... I think you should spend more time watching quality programming like 'Are You Being Served.'

From 'Are You Being Served':

An unusual excuse for being late:
"The central heating broke down and I had to hold my pussy in front of it. It was frozen solid."
- Mrs. Slocombe, Mrs. Slocombe Expects


# posted by Blogger Yvonne : 1:22 PM  

 Yeah, kinda hard to get the joke if you don't know who John McLaughlin is...
Personally, I always liked Red Dwarf or Dr. Who or Blake's Seven or Faulty Towers or Allo Allo! (god that was funny) or Black Adder or that show about the Buckets. You know, you're right, definately too much PBS... Careful there Vicar!


# posted by Blogger R.T. Lemur : 1:45 PM  

 I've always preferred McNeil Lehrer news hour. And, yes, Keeping Up Appearances with Violet, Rose, Daisy and Hyacinth Bucket-pronounced-Bouquet.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 2:02 PM  

 Gwen, I was raised to believe the same thing. My parents always told me that Republicans don't give a crap about poor people and the Democrats do.

I have to say, I hate the entire political system and do not belong to any party, but I don't think it's that simple. Both political parties want to take your hard-earned money under threat of violence (don't pay your taxes? You'll be arrested and sent to prison.) to do what they think is best with it. The only difference is the respective worldviews of the people behind each party, which affects which things they believe they should be doing with the money they loot from you. I cannot get on board with redistribution of wealth, because I think you know best how to spend the money you earn; even if you didn't, I believe that freedom of human beings to live, work, earn and trade as they wish is much more important than trying to engineer the perfect, 'equal' society. Good intentions are great, but these things simply do not work, and sacrifice liberty for the sake of it.

That's a bit of a tangent, but what I really wanted to comment on was this remark:

But I just wanted to tell everyone else that if you're not rich or racist against Middle Eastern people, there's no reason to vote for Bush.I won't be voting for Bush (or Kerry) in this election, but I know many people who will be voting for the former, and most of them are not rich, and none of them hate Middle Eastern people. A few reasons off the top of my head why someone might vote for Bush: They think he recognises that free trade is the only fair trade (Bush's steel tariffs notwithstanding, he is solid on free trade, whereas Kerry has a protectionist for a running mate who seems to believe wholeheartedly that there is a fixed quantity of wealth and a fixed quantity of labour in the world), they believe that Kerry might actually try to impose a disastrous nationalised healthcare system (like the one Britain 'enjoys'; it sucks royally), they think that it's a wonderful thing that girls in Afghanistan are now allowed to go to school (and that the women there are allowed to vote in the new, free elections)...It's not, for the Republican voters I know, about hating brown people, wanting cheap gas for their SUVs, screwing over the poor, etc. Just as for the Democrats I know, it's not about hating America and wanting as many abortions as possible to take place, or whatever the latest attack line is.


People on the left and the right (as obsolete as those labels are) all bemoan how vicious and nasty our political exchanges have become, but both sides are all too eager to betray the Other Guys as Satanic figures, out to destroy all that is good and worthy in the world. A friend of mine, who was raised in a Communist country and is therefore now as anti-government as I am (she knows firsthand what power in the hands of government instead of individuals can lead to), can sit and talk in a friendly way to a privileged, ignorant westerner who is deluded enough to think that Che Guevara was a bitchin' guy or that life in Cuba can't be all that bad. I don't have her patience or strength for such things, but I can see the value in truly looking at a person's worldview - those ideas they take as axiomatic - and understanding where they are coming from based on that.

Once, we were sat at dinner with a guy who fiercely believes that private education should be illegal. I was digging my nails into my palm with the strain of containing my snark and abuse, but my friend said calmly, "Oh, I think I see where you are coming from. When it is a question between boosting the chances of equality or allowing personal freedom to educate your children - or be educated yourself - wherever you wish, you value the attempt at equality more." The guy said that was exactly it, and they had a very friendly chat about the matter. Now, neither of them changed their minds, but they could at least understand one another's positions without reducing it to "She wants to screw the poor who are in public schools" and "He hates anyone who has more than anyone else".

Sorry for the long comment, but I have been reading all of the political posts by people I am friends with (or used to be friends with) in the run up to the election, and it's really bummed me out. And I won't comment on their blogs, but I heart you and know you know I'm not racist or rich because I can see why someone would vote for Bush.


# posted by Blogger Jackie D : 6:35 PM  

 If there was a candidate/party in America that was fiscally conservative and socially liberal, he/it would have my vote.

But, for some reason, there is no such thing. Why is it that, in this country, I can only vote against the redistribution of wealth if I vote for homophobia, sexism, and religious fanaticism at the same time?

I don't pretend to understand politics to the extent that you do, J. And you know I love and respect you. But if Bush's free trade and other fiscal policies are so sound, why does he have to pander to the religious fanatics and the racists?

I'm sincerely glad for the Afghani girls who get to go to school now. But I wish I didn't have to trade my abortion rights for their education. Is Bush targeting third-world clitorectomies next? Will our price for that be prayer in schools?

I admit that I'm selfish. I don't see myself benefitting from Republican economics any time soon, so I'm voting for abortion rights and gay people in the meantime, even though I'm not going to benefit from Democratic economics either.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 7:26 PM  

 Oh, and... I don't think you're racist, Jackie.

It's funny because I was ignoring your last couple of paragraphs, thinking they were just general remarks that had nothing to do with me because I don't hate on Republicans. But then I just realized that, yeah, it does sort of look like I'm calling *all* non-rich Republicans racist.

Just kidding, y'all. That was me being arcerbic, hyperbolic, tongue in cheek. I know that racists vote Democrat sometimes, too.

Heh.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 7:39 PM  

 Gwen, please start a fiscally conservative and socially liberal party and I will vote for you. (Then I'll have someone who is worth spending 2 hours in line to vote for!)

Let's call it the Gwen party. :-)


# posted by Blogger Yvonne : 9:24 AM  

 No way, man.

The only way I would ever consent to rule this country would be via divine monarchy. And it would literally have to be divine, too, because once I began the divorce process on our dysfunctional codependant marriage to Middle Eastern oil, everybody in Corporate America would try to have me assassinated.

So... here's my campaign slogan: "Make Gwen your immortal Queen and you'll have a Prius in every pot, and all the free choice you can stand."

Just kidding. Not an actual Prius. But the alliteration was there with the right amount of syllables, so I had to take it.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 9:39 AM  

 God, here in Georgia there's a huge lower-income white rural Republican slice of the pie. Most of the more affluent (middle-upper class) are Democrats, and a good healthy mixture among the fabulously rich. That's how I see it anyhow. And this year, even a lot of the wealthier folk seem to be leaning toward Kerry.

And don't be fooled that girls returning to school in Afghanistan has anything to do with the Bush administration; it has a lot more to do with the years of bipartisan and Democratic support that came before this administration. (As a feminist for over 30 years, I was reading about the plight of middle Eastern women at least that long ago in Ms. Of course, at that time it was a "fringe" topic that only the real lefty commies like me gave a damn about...)


# posted by Blogger Tanya : 12:36 PM  

 Weird. Maybe I'm too insulated in my tiny pocket of liberalism here in Bush Country, I mean Texas. It's warping my brain.

Thanks for the info on Afghanistan, Tanya.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 6:51 PM  

 Hey, Gwen, just wonderin. If you had to decide, which one would you be? Democrat or republican?


# posted by Blogger Corelette : 2:58 PM  

 hey, gwen...just wonderin...r u a democrat or republican?


# posted by Blogger Corelette : 2:59 PM  

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