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A friend of mine from back in Seattle - a decent, mellow guy, loyal friend, with impeccable tastes in music, beer, baseball, and movies - but for some damn reason voted for Bush in 2000... is STILL voting for Kerry! I had to call him last night and make sure. :P
2 months ago, he knocked me over with the proverbial feather when he volunteered, with no prompting from me, that he was voting for Kerry.
:wow:
Why?, I asked... stunned, but happily stunned...
"Because we need a change". Such grimness in his voice. I usually only hear that when we discuss the dreary Mariners season.
Now mind you, we NEVER discussed politics the nearly 5 years I knew him in Seattle. We knew where each other stood, and we broke down the world situation better when talking history. We respected our differences best by leaving them alone.
But when he admitted that he was voting for Kerry that last phone call, I ran with the green light. We have now parsed the health care crisis, the rising costs of education (he has grandchildren who will be college age in the next decade), the labor market, the erosion of the middle class, and the debacle of the war in Iraq.
He still proffers knee-jerk reactions to "socialized medicine", but had NO retort when I countered that the "privatized corporate system we have now isn't exactly working though, isn't it?". He maintains that health care isn't a right, and I countered that it IS, and insisted that he if he doesn't let human compassion (I was appealing to his christian morals), common sense, and even the 9th fucking amendment override the philosophical dogmas he was taught by the conservatives in his church and upbringing, then we're STUCK, aren't we? What good is voting for change if you are not willing to re-examine your belief system that created the need for change in the first place? This got some mild agreement.
Suffice to say I am the blowhard of the friendship. ;-)
His wife keeps having to jump from temp job to temp job, alternately losing health benefits each time. He GETS WHAT IS AT STAKE. But he still clings to the old ways in some manner, well, because he been what he has been for many decades.
We then rehashed what we DO agree on - the need for a stronger middle class, the need for the poor to be helped by ALL of us, not just the government or churches... to reach the middle class. We have different ways of trying to reach the same goals.
I am convinced that I am making a difference with him.
But just to make sure, I had to ask...
He was watching Kerry on CSPAN when I called, which emboldened me to ask.
Chalk up one more Bush voter from 2000 voting for John Kerry. :toast:
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