This is not going to be a political blog as a rule. But like everyone else in the country, politics has been on my wandering mind quite a bit lately.
For the record, I am an Independent having voted for both Democrats and Republicans over the years, but in this last election I went with President Bush. I had many reasons for doing so . . . the most notable being my "post 9/11" frame of mind . . . so for that reason any political thoughts I add in the coming months will probably be from a "Red State" point of view. And that includes this little item below. I wrote it a few days ago and sent it to a couple of the well-known bloggers, but my urge to see it in print somewhere is unabated. I don't know if the anger I express has more to do with my love of my home state (which just happens to be Red), or if it is just a reaction to the nonsense of "Red State" folks being to stupid to understand the issues in general, but the anger was there so I had to let it out. Better this than throwing a brick through some Kerry Campaign HQ plate glass window. So, here it is . . .
A Red State Guy Asks for Help from the Blue State Folks . . .
Please, please, please, educate me ole wise liberal sages (Are wise and sage redundant? I am too stupid to know.).
I am just a simple man. I have no education to speak of (Except for this masters degree -- can't believe I actually thought that would do me any good in the "non-reality based" Red State world -- what a putz I was!).
And I have no world view in my life experience . . . except for living in Europe for six years and traveling to Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Canada. Granted it was while I was in the military, but I heard the sites look the same to a liberal youth on a summer of free love and personal discovery or a Berkeley college professor on sabbatical, so I think I got the idea.
I am not accepting of homosexuals -- with the possible exception of . . . well, just about every homosexual I know or have known, including two of my childhood friends and some really bright and decent gay friends of my much more tolerant and enlightened than me heterosexual children.
And I have NO tolerance for those who are not particularly religious (I mean I AM a backsliding Catholic living in big time Southern Baptist area so how could I be?).
I know I need guidance since I am uninformed. My Internet habit has not helped, nor have all these damn news and political magazines that I read. My cable TV connection is no help either despite my having PBS, CNN, MSNBC, BBC America, and, dare I say it, Fox News as favorites on my remote (No, I don't watch ABC, NBC, or CBS -- I have a delicate stomach).
I know I don't understand the plight of the poor or lower middle class, despite my parents being blue collar workers with little money and my having to work my way through college doing the grunt work on construction jobs.
I know I don't understand what the military REALLY needs despite having served in the Air Force for 12 years.
I know I don't understand what REAL women want and need . . . despite my wife being a real woman and never hesitating to tell me what she wants and needs . . . or from telling me what I want and need for that matter.
I must be a racist . . . even though my parents and my 12 years in the Air Force taught me to judge a person by his abilities and not the color of his skin.
I know I don't have a right to fear terrorism, even though the last time I looked terrorists didn't ask for your zip code before they blew you up.
I know I don't understand how bad the economy is and what it is doing to people, even though I have close relatives who have lost jobs (and found them again, after getting some education and retraining).
I am also incompetent and unable to perform the simplest of tasks, although I am upper middle class and don't live in a trailer so sometimes I fool people into thinking I know what I am doing. (Pssst, I know this comes as a shock to you, but we all don't live in trailers and even some of those that do are pretty damn smart!)
In fact, I am sure there are other things I am woefully ignorant about, but I am simply too stupid to realize this (Although I think this sentence means I realize it after all -- oh what a conundrum!).
Yes, I need your help, you see, because I voted for George W. Bush for President. And obviously that proves I am stupid, ignorant, racist, homophobic, unenlightened and a bunch of even bigger words I am not familiar with.
So, please, I beg you . . . can you save me?
Signed,
Desperate Red State Guy Who Seeks Enlightenment
