I remember quite clearly my first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. I was a student at Drury, and after my morning classes I drove to my hometown, 20 miles away, so I could vote in the courthouse there. After voting--which seemed like a surreal experience to me--the poll worker gave me a "I voted" sticker. I drove back to Springfield and since I had missed lunch in the Commons I went to the CX--the on-campus dining spot with the best chicken noodle soup I've ever eaten anywhere.
So I'm sitting there at a table, eating my lunch, probably reviewing some book for an afternoon class, and a man sitting at the next table says to me, "I see you voted." "Yes," I replied proudly. "Who did you vote for?" he asked. "Carter." I replied again.
His face turned beet red, and looked at me with great disgust and said, "Well THAT was the stupidest thing you could have done." He turned away from me and sat over his food shaking his head.
I was absolutely shattered by this comment. I was majoring in political science and felt like I had really educated myself on the issues that were important to me, and the viewpoints of both Reagan and Carter. Carter was way more in line with my way of thinking, especially on environmental issues, which were extremely important to me (and still are). This was the first time I had ever voted, and I had no idea that someone--a total stranger yet--would be so offended by my choice.
It was also the first time I experienced the idea that someone could completely dismiss my choice as "stupid" without taking the time to ask WHY I had chosen Carter that day.
This encounter has stayed with me lo these many years. It is one of the reasons I am passionate about politics. I still am, even though my poli sci degree is definitely gathering dust. I am passionate about the process, and the way people choose their candidate. I am also passionate about the idea that people DON'T vote. I can't imagine why you wouldn't. I was explaining to T1 and T2 last night that it has only been over 100 years or so that women could vote. They were aghast at that idea. I also explained to them that in many countries women can't vote, can't own property, can't make any legal decisions for themselves. Again, they were aghast.
The disgust in this man's face when I said "Carter" has also stayed with me. It is the reason that if you email me some slanderous crap about my candidate, I'm right back on ya with MY viewpoint, and hopefully a fact-checked version of events.
So tomorrow if you want to vote for the GOP candidates, by all means go ahead and do it. And thank God you live in a country where you HAVE THAT RIGHT. I will be voting for Obama. (I haven't made that plain in this blog, have I?) And God help anyone I encounter who treats me with disgust over MY choice, MY vote. It is the one thing I CAN do to change this mess we're in. I'm not a young college student, scared to defend my choice to a stranger anymore.
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1 comment:
you go!
on a personal note:
I was born on Susan B. Anthony Day (August 26) and always felt a special link to the woman, scary though she seemed in her photographs. When I was growing up, 1920 seemed like an impossibly long time ago that the 19th amendment passed, but it was within my grandmother's lifetime- only two generations removed from me. That means that when my grandma was born she did not share the rights and responsibilities of citizenship as her future husband. She commemorated the theme for me when on my tenth birthday by giving me ten Susan B. coins. I admit that much of the symbolism was lost on me, but I at least knew that the woman was important and that I was somehow indebted to her, just as I was to G. Washington and Jefferson. (Too bad we don't have "Founding People" instead of "Fathers." I guess it's not as poetic.)
Anyway, I can't help but think that this red-faced man in the CX was acting on some learned attitude toward women when he told you about your stupid vote. I'm sure he thought he had taught you a lesson about what he assumed was your inexperience, naivete, and general inability to think critically as the "lesser" sex by calling your vote stupid. This one-way thinking exists even today in Palin's ridiculous attack on Obama as a "faux feminist" because he didn't select Hillary as a running mate, as womanhood was qualification enough for higher office, possibly as proof that she values her own ability to think critically as flawed because of her "just a hockey mom" status. (maybe a stretch, I know) Obviously her understanding of feminism and sexism is in line with red-faced CX man, in that she underestimates the value of critical thinking and principled action in both a voter and their candidates.
Hopefully by the time Ts 1&2 are old enough to vote it will seem even more implausible that one hundred years ago a woman couldn't vote, mush less run for office, and that simply being a "hockey mom" isn't qualification enough for holding the office of president.
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