Monday, June 23, 2008

Overheard at a meeting

The other day there was a small gathering to meet and speak with a gubernatorial candidate happening through our town. I went because I had heard some things about this candidate, but knew very little (the word was that though her policies weren't altogether perfect, she might be worth supporting since she wasn't being backed by the Republican establishment). The most interesting thing that happened during the meeting though was a couple of quotes I picked up. During a discussion about energy policy it was mentioned to the group that McCain doesn't support oil drilling in the US. This shocked a few of the people who weren't aware of this fact and "Bob" (a senior member of the local party) explained the discrepancy thusly: "McCain is a Democrat, for all intents and purposes". Nobody objected to this statement. This is the candidate these people are going to campaign and vote for? Since I've been involved with the Republican party I have not heard a good word about him. The closest came a few months back when a speaker at a club meeting said something like "Hey, our guy looks pretty good compared to Obama's preacher, doesn't he?". I'm having a really hard time understanding this plague of complacent acceptance. What are these people afraid of? In my experience, I know that the elders in the local club will come down on me for failure to fully support whatever nonsense comes rolling along, but I have yet to see what will happen if one of these respected members expresses a real, reasoned opposition to anything. I have gotten involved because I was tired of sitting at home complaining about what's going on. Now I find that those who are supposed to be doing something about it are just sitting around in a bigger, more public room and complaining about what's going on. Another quote from the meeting may ring hopeful. Across the table from me it was whispered "we've lost our way".

The first step is acceptance, right?

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