another view of voting against self interest

time for some tearing-down-walls

i’ve been reading some of the “other side”

guess what? they’re fucking angry at pretty much the same things we are.

heh. and i’ve been talking to some of them as well.

my aunt said she’s ashamed she voted for bush… TWICE! she says everyone in washington needs to go. she is livid because she thinks the bailout is bailing out the greedy bastards on Wall Street.

and i tell her, yeah! aunt kathy. we need more and better citizen politicians seeking to serve their country, not power.. yeah, she agrees. the whole thing has gone to shit we say in tandem.

and yet. and yet she is going to vote for john mccain because “he is an honorable man.” i kid you not. i spit out my coffee. really.

i tell her: there is a track record. none of it good. on either side. but what makes Obama worth voting for is that we don’t know what he will do. we do know what mccain will do: we’ve just lived through eight years of it. and yet…

and yet. she isolated Clinton for mandating mortgage money be made available for lower income americans so they can afford homes. (poor) people taking mortgages they couldn’t afford. and yet. she does seem to understand that the loans were bad on their face and should have been better regulated. that those at Fannie and Freddie oversold those assets and hid the liabilities. and yet. the victim is again really at the root cause of this. for her.

and yet. she is afraid that an Obama presidency will see the ascendency of people like those black rappers. yeah. she said someone told her some black rappers threatened to jump sarah palin if she comes to new york.

and i try to say to her: aunt kathy, do you think, really think black rappers or poor people caused the financial meltdown in this country? or forced us into an illegal war? the environment? my mind is spinning as i try to control my rising anger at this bias because i know in my heart, she doesn’t see it in herself. she doesn’t hear herself. how can she?

so i begin to realize something. just as i’m about to scream: you’re being lied to, can’t you see how the blame game works… all to get you to VOTE AGAINST YOUR OWN INTERESTS.

no. it hits me hard: she’s not voting against her interests. . . her self. how she thinks about her self and her place in the world. not money or pollution or availability of food. but she is protecting her credibility. it is that self interest that the republicans have learned to exploit.

no matter how badly republicans govern, they understand this: the self image of those they convince to elect them.

not only do we, the left, come into conflict with the political/social points-of-view of the right, but we are perceived (imo) by the them as negatively judgmental of their self view. like we question their integrity of thought… not just their conclusions. like we have made it about smart versus not smart… literary, cultured, art-loving, classical music listening, cocktails at eight versus johnny sixpack and his football and his wife beating and immigrant-hating black-hating god loving.

perhaps that’s why those on the right vote the way they do. because, no matter what common sense may infer, it’s hard to pull the lever for those whom you think are laughing at you… disrespect you.

yeah. maybe they vote a different kind of self interest. and i keep wondering. . . how do we progressives do it better then? i cringe every time i see headlines that scream: PALIN IS STUPID. because, by association, anyone and everyone voting for that ticket must also. be. stupid.

to fill out the point . . .

The Resentment Strategy by Paul Krugman

Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet by Maureen Dowd

ordinary americans mine, written in June

i think it is possible to disagree politically and come up with workable solutions. the wrench in the works is the perception, on any side, of personal disdain, ridicule, elitism (whatever right/left form it takes), etc.

disagreements are what bring us to the table. disrespect is what keeps us from working together. that’s my conclusion.

if we are going to fight back against the decline of our country and the vampires taking us there, then citizens need to find their way to each other. locally.

that’s the way i see it. and have seen it now for some time.

my mantra:

take back school boards

take by planning boards

take back town councils and committees

infiltrate county political committees

run for state assembly

target important congressional seats in 2010

assert states rights to fight federalism and corporatism

go to work tomorrow and take the highest amount of tax deductions allowed

and instead of giving it to the gov’t, put it in an escrow account (for i’m sure we will have to pay it eventually)

then tax file extensions . . . i think that might send a message, don’t you?

these things are doable. and measurable.

let’s find the outsiders looking to serve, not attain power

. . . smart, politically diverse, citizens

who want a better world for ALL children. not just their own.