I believe in a greater good than that which enriches only my social stratum or my pocketbook.
I have a brother who revels in an old joke; so that when the gender of a family newborn is announced, he asks: “What does that make me, an aunt or an uncle?” As corny as that sounds — if you only knew my brother — it is, like all jokes, based in part on a kind of reverse reality.
The notion that a particular happenstance should determine your identity is, of course, silly and therefore funny. But how about the opposite? The idea so popular with pollsters and pundits — especially in this presidential election — that what you are should determine your political ideology and how you vote is equally inane, yet inexplicably and sadly a way of life in modern America.
Whereas our founders were able to put aside their conditions in life, whether innate or acquired, in order to form a more perfect union and ensure a just and prosperous way of life for their posterity, this no longer appears to be true. Identity politics and class warfare have further polarized an already divided nation, especially along the lines of gender, race and religion. But does it have to be this way? I decided to conduct a poll of one likely voter: myself.
I am a woman, so what does that make me? On the one hand, I’m supposed to vote for John McCain because he had the courage to make Sarah Palin his running mate. She "looks like me," ergo I must vote with my own kind. Except that, as the liberal sisterhood tells me, no real woman could vote Republican since they refuse to support women’s "reproductive rights." Sorry, but I’m not buying either pitch; my own kind is the human race, and abortion has as its aim the destruction of the most helpless of that race for the sake of convenience.
I am also a single woman which should make me, in the eyes of popular culture, either an unhappy shrew or a lesbian, or both. In either case, this should most definitely make me a man-hater. But of course I am neither. I’m just a woman who has simply waited for the good man that God has finally sent me. Far from hating men, I adore truly manly men, particularly those who are man enough to want to fight to protect me and the country we love.
I am a New Englander and unfortunately I know what this is supposed to make me: a knee-jerk liberal. Living as I do in Connecticut, a state which traditionally is at the top of the list of states paying out the most per capita in federal taxes and receiving the least back from Washington, I know all too well that I am virtually surrounded by the Left. Yet, I choose to follow in the footsteps of the great New England patriots who railed against unfair taxation and government officers who “harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
I am a Catholic, and worse yet, a faithful one. So this makes me either one of the millions of Christians who, like the founders of our country, believe in our national motto, “In God We Trust,” or a dangerous, religious fanatic. Until the last decade or so, Catholics were a reliable Democratic voting block, but since then, more and more have refused to follow that party down the path toward a culture of death. And unlike John Kerry, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, I am secure and joyful in the practice and knowledge of my faith.
I am a white person of European ancestry and, were I not a woman (or a liberal), that would make me a racist, domineering, greedy pig. So, to assuage the guilt I must surely feel about all of this, I would have no choice but to vote for Barack Obama instead of John McCain who "looks like me." Of course, our black brothers and sisters are exempt from this redemptive process since racism in this country is a one-way street. Except that I am not ashamed of my heritage and therefore feel zero guilt, and I resent those who advise otherwise.
In summary, this likely voter loves liberty as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and hates Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism and any other form of government that values human beings only as tools of the State and would dispose of those whose lives have no value in their eyes. I believe in a greater good than that which enriches only my social stratum or my pocketbook. And that makes me an American.
Bravo! Please marry me.
So God has sent you the right man. That’s nice. And will you say “Until Death Do Us Part” and will you keep that promise to God and your husband? If not, don’t worry. It’s not fashionable anymore. The question is rhetorical of course, but something to think about on your walk down the aisle.
Good Luck
It’s just an effort to simplify and categorize all of humanity. If we all voted for people who looked like us, the world would be a lot simpler, wouldn’t it? Maybe that would solve the racism issue once and for all: Of course white people won’t vote for a black man, Obama, so get used to it! I love that you are a study in contradictions, Lisa. I think that’s what makes people so interesting and unpredictable and human. Trying to boil people down to their skin color or their location or their gender to predict behavior is a repeated disservice we do one another. I hope nobody labels themselves as conservative or liberal illuminati in 20 years.
Jeanedcrusader, the reason that we attempt to boil people down to their skin color, location, gender, or other factors is that there is an actual corelation to behavior. If you doubt that do not watch election results on Tuesday night because they use all of the above plus many other factors to make the prediction of the winner. This process was pioneered on a project that I worked on for RCA computer systems division when we developed project Op Ballot for NBC. Similar inference engines are used to predict what you will buy at the store and other targeted marketing processes.
So the bottom line is that these factors are reliable predictors and they will continue to be used. And, what exactly is the % of blacks voting for Obama? Disproportunate to previous elections? More voting than previous elections? Can’t be because they are voting for a black candidate rather on issues?
Mickey G
While what you say is true with large groups of like people, I think conservatives are better at considering individuals on their merits. I’ve met some good black people and Latinos. Very good ones in fact. But a few years ago I was running the night shift at a shop and they hired a new guy. He was black and we got along good, but then he told me he had 5 kids by 3 different women. Then I noticed him smoking pot in his car at lunch hour. I didn’t say anything to the owner, but I warned him that the boss could come by at any time. I don’t know how people can live that way.
“In summary, this likely voter loves liberty as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and hates Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism and any other form of government that values human beings only as tools of the State and would dispose of those whose lives have no value in their eyes. I believe in a greater good than that which enriches only my social stratum or my pocketbook. And that makes me an American.”
If you really are an American who loves what America stands for, then you would not use that ugly term “the greater good.” It has been used to justify horrors perpetrated on millions of people by all the groups you profess to hate (communists, socialists, etc.) If you wish to enrich others, you go for it. Please do not advocate that government force everyone to enrich others, because that is the essence of all forms of Statism.
AMAI
Boy, that’s for sure. “the greater good” and Communism go hand in hand. And, was that great National Socialist speaker talking about enriching Jews, Poles, Slavs, and Frenchmen? Hell no! He was ranting about the greater good of blue eyed blond Germans.
Hey Ivan, I was blonde and blue eyed before the hair started disappearing and the remaining turned white. I think we are beginning to see a trend that was fostered initially by the popular election of senators which represented the end of state’s rights.
Get ready for Obamamessiah’s world where we pay to eliminate world poverty, send out children to his homeland security force via forced service, send our money to his voter blocks, and generally descend into 4th world status.
Remember Lyndon Johnson? My ex-mother-in-law lamented (after voting for him so it was her help that brought him to power) “he said he would get us out of Viet Nam”. So he lied and people died but no one remembers that one. His great society was turned into a dismal failure largely through unfettered immigration.
Where will the poor go after we run out of money? Better yet how will the Omessiah craft the tax laws so he can continue to contribute nothing to support his Kenyan family but the rest of us pick up his burden?
Get ready for the lament “my (insert son or daughter name here) has to go to the Homeland Defense for two years. They have no choice. How did this happen?” Then you respond…You idiot you voted for this, why didn’t you try to understand what Change meant?
Yea, I remember LBJ, but I couldn’t vote that year. I was three weeks short of 21. I also remember, D-Day from my dad. Ironicaly there were about 150,000 troops and 4,000 died in one day. About the same as 5 years in Iraq.
And for those that lament about the direction this country is going, let them visit the Ellis Island museum and see how people lived 100 years ago. I guess the Obamanites think history started in 2000.