Her son is 13. In 2008 her boy will be 14. By the end of the next president's first term her oldest will be (drum roll please.)
You math wizards knew it. He will be 18.
She broke down and told me, the only thing she cares about is electing a candidate that will end the Iraq war.
I warned her in 2004. I told her that there is no end for this war in sight. She snickered at me. She, like so many Americans, believed that this war would never affect her family. I guess that's pretty easy to do when your child is only 10 years old. I told her that if she voted for Bush again in 2004, she had no one to blame but herself. She still wouldn't listen.
My sister and myself were raised on a name brand. We were taught, by our church, that democrats killed babies. Democrats wanted to take our guns. Democrats wanted to take away our right to pray in public. Democrats were "soft" on communism.
I rejected the programming after 26 years, much to the chagrin of our mother. To hear my sister actually say she might vote Democrat after 38 years, I believed hell might have actually frozen over.
There are so many fundies out there that are sick of being used by the pukes. They are tired of being told that they will end abortion, all the while never doing shit about it. (The supreme court, the democratic congress, the blah blah blah blah. Nothing's ever our fault.)
It's important now more than ever, that we as Democrats, reach out to the fundies who disagree with Bush's wars.
We have to be extra careful not to scare these possible new converts away. The Democratic party should embrace three points to win them over.
- Make all extra curricular activities available to home schooled and private school children. This is a no brainer. Most school districts already do this. Let's just make a big deal out of it to let them know we care about their children being eligible to play sports, choir, band, chess or whatever their parents want them into. They are already paying the taxes for it, now let's make sure their children get to do it also.
- Allow after school religious studies on public land for any recognized religious group. No one is forcing anyone to attend and the people who lead such studies would be volunteers. It already is happening (ala FCA and etc.) We just need to make a bigger deal out of supporting it.
- Gun rights. This issue is a non starter. While most Americans support "gun control," the NRA Bubbas vote in droves on this single issue. By coming up with a "gun owners compact," we can assure even the most hardcore Cletus that his guns will be safe if even Alan Alda were elected as president.
Thanks as always for reading my screeds. By changing some of our terminology, we can get the presidency and the filibuster proof senate we are all hoping for to effect real change in this country.