It’s Almost Over, Time to Get Started

By Chris La Tray, 10-30-08

	Caption: POW! Right in the kisser!

I’m no fan of Barack Obama, and I didn’t vote for him. I’ve blogged about why I chose not to, but I haven’t campaigned aggressively for my guy either, because a) I don’t think he will win, and b) I’m not particularly interested in telling people how they should vote, I just hope they do vote. I believe it is every person’s duty to self-educate and vote what they truly feel is right, hopefully ignoring all the white noise of big media, big dollars, and the braying hounds of hyper partisanship.

I understand why people like Obama, even if I disagree with them. He’s intelligent, charismatic, and slick. I don’t find his speechifying particularly uplifting; too many hours sitting with a sore ass at various conferences listening to today’s feel-great-while-kicking-ass! motivational speaker has probably ruined me for any of that, but I can see why what the Senator says will stir the emotions of people. Millions adore Obama, and I would be lying if I said I won’t feel a bit of relief if and when he wins the election, even if I don’t believe he is the guy who is going to set America straight. I welcome being proven wrong.

His opponent is a different story. Again, I understand why some people are Republicans, and I can accept that, but is their candidate truly the best one they could come up with? I often wonder what anyone in their right mind sees in John McCain. I find the man’s words, and those of his running mate, hysterical because they often sound so loony. I honestly don’t see anything compelling in either of them – whether it be character, experience, or charisma – that makes me understand why someone would line up to cast a vote on their behalf, particularly in light of the current state of our nation. Still, there are plenty who do support that ticket, and many of those folks are smart, good people.

My employer is a small company in Ohio. After taking the gig six or so years ago I made my residence near Dayton for the better part of three years. I loathed it. Not all of it, necessarily; the landscape in the SE corner – Athens, for example, home of Ohio University – is a lush and beautiful part of the world. I’d love to sit and listen to the stories the Ohio River could tell me. There was a town called Yellow Springs not far from where I lived that was artsy and liberal, kind of my little Missoula-away-from-Missoula. Where I spent most of my time, however, is a bastion of modern conservative-minded folks who typically express their ideology via mega churches, racism and misogyny. To say it chafed is an understatement.

In the department I worked in, politics was mostly a right wing circle jerk. We are talking card carrying members of the “you’re either with us or against us” crowd. Men who would give you the shirt off their back, then turn around and spout the most racist, misogynistic drivel you can imagine, and not even realize it. When Bush was drumming up support for the invasion of Iraq (and acting like doing so wasn’t already a foregone conclusion), a couple of my co-workers literally suggested the solution was to just nuke the country. The only way to distract them was to steer the conversation to either sports or lawn care. I did not become particularly close with any of those guys, though getting along with them and working together has not been a problem at all. I got by pretending to cheer for the Buckeyes, when in reality I tend to lean more toward Michigan.

The co-workers I am closest to are the pair who hired me, who are also two of the three owners of the place. They are great guys. They treat their employees better than any employer I’ve ever worked for, once I got around some of the cultural differences. Good members of their community. Generous. Family men. Fun to be around. They don’t thump bibles. I just can’t say enough good things about them when it comes to how fair they have been with me and the opportunities I’ve had as a result. I’m not in love with the work I do, but I am loyal to these guys as people. In other words, the day they sell out and leave is the day I do too.

Given my status as a remote employee (the only one in the company), we rarely speak outside of email. These guys are essentially the only people from the company I ever see, and that is only once per year when we convene at a conference, and it is always a good time. Two weeks ago our paths crossed in Las Vegas for three days. Diehard Republicans and initially staunch Bush supporters, I was curious to see where their loyalties would be in this election. I mean, they can’t possibly be McCain fans, can they? Sarah Palin? No way!

I was wrong. McCain is their guy, and they think Sarah Palin is fantastic. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are horrible people who only spout lies, and don’t give “the other side” nearly the amount of time and open-mindedness that guys like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity do. It was weird getting back in their company and having all this stuff come up over beers and Mexican food. If you can think of any right wing stereotype – minus the religious stuff – then odds are they are buying it hook, line and sinker. It was astounding. Things could have gotten ugly . . . but, thankfully, they didn’t.

It helps that I’m not a Democrat. When they would try and draw me out by dissing the Dems, I generally agreed with them. I think we have a lot of great people at the local level running on that side of the aisle, and I voted for them happily – but I’m no fan of the upper echelons of the party and certainly won’t go out on a limb to defend the likes of Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Yeah, Olbermann is an arrogant asshole who sometimes showboats too much (as he’s supposed to, I guess), but I got them to concede some points about where he is coming from.

When it came down to it, aside from which ticket’s little box we were going to color in on voting day, we agreed on far more than we disagreed. There was plenty to lock horns over, but nothing that made us want to shoot each other. Ideologically opposed though we may be, if I were to imagine a hypothetical situation where it was up to us to come up with solutions to some of the problems Americans face, I’m relatively certain we could probably work together to make something happen.

That is what is so frustrating about all this election bullshit. Watching all the videos, reading the articles, seeing the partisans froth at the mouth over some of the stupidest shit imaginable, over the slightest little verbal missteps, and then getting huffy when their guy is called on the same type of thing, really shows the worst of what America has become. The rude behavior talking heads exhibit that would get them justifiably busted in the face if they tried to pull it off in the real world is outrageous. That is what scares me the most about the outcome of this election. Not that a guy that I can’t find any qualities of leadership in may actually win, but that regardless of who does win people may not be able to get over it and work to make things better. Or, worse, go back to sleep until things fire up again in four years, leaving the guys in suits with cigars free to continue plundering us at will.

It’s not a politician thing. It is a citizen thing. I like to vent my spleen sometimes as much as the next blogger, but if a guy like me – a heathen socialist – can swap beers with committed capitalists and find more to agree on then disagree, then clearly there must be truth that these lines being drawn (or etched for us) separating red from blue are not insurmountable. People get their identities wrapped up in their TV networks of choice, the magazines they read, their donkey or their elephant, and don’t use their heads. I do it too, for crying out loud. It’s hard not to! It’s important to remember that as citizens we aren’t supposed to be fighting with one another – doing so just plays into the hands of those really in control. I’m talking about the big companies who bankroll and direct both political parties, the insidious power brokers behind the scenes who stoke our fury with clever ad campaigns and one propaganda blitz after another. Ignoring all that, listening to the other side, finding some common ground, and working together as citizens is what will make a difference. Anything else is just a campaign slogan.