Closet Democrats and the Tea Party

We are bombarded by all this political stuff.  I want to scream, “Stop!”.  I could be more polite and say something such as, “Radio and television report many political comments.”  Instead, I feel bored and affronted by all of it.  I feel as if tons of meaningless “stuff” was falling out of the sky (Where does tv come from?}and hitting me on the head.

 To add to my annoyance, there is the attitude of some old people who live with me in an “independent living retirement” community in Dallas.  Since I do not go to meals on the days I go to dialysis, on the other days I go to the dining room and sit with anyone who has a chair at their table.  Some people refuse to discuss politics and religion.  They are smart. 

Like the journalist I used to be, I ask questions.  One night I mentioned President Obama.  The woman sitting next to me looked up from her chicken-fried steak and turned her head away, refusing to look at me.  She shuttered, filled with disgust at the mention of our President.  She said, “He is the worst President we ever had.”  She also believes he is a Muslim and probably was born in Kenya. 

By asking about backgrounds and education, I discovered that the better educated people here, such as the charming doctor I sometimes sit with at supper, are Episcopalians, and most are “closet” Democrats.  I call them “closet Democrats” because if they let it be known that they vote for Democrats, they will be verbally attacked by Tea Party loyalists, like the woman who shuttered when I mentioned President Obama

The people who despise our President are usually Southerners, which means they are secret racists, but just as they promote their political opinions, they are all fundamental Christians.  They talk about “taking back the Constitution,” as “Our nation was founded as a Christian nation.”  If I tell them that some of the Founding Fathers were not Christians, they refuse to believe me, just as they refuse to believe that the World was not created in six days in 6,000 B.C.
 
I usually vote for Democratic candidates.  Not always.  In New Mexico I supported my Republican Congressman.  He voted for what he thought was right, even if it was not the official Party position.  I was surprised to learn he was a Jew who grew up in Chicago and came to New Mexico as a young lawyer to join the staff of the county’s district attorney. A woman, who had worked in that office, told me, “He was the best of all that worked there.”  I grieved with everyone in New Mexico when that honest Republican died in his early 40's of a rare form of skin cancer.

In contrast, since I moved to Dallas, my Congressman is Jeb Hensarling, who lives in North Dallas with the rich folks, neighbors of George W. Bush, while most of his constituents in this gerrymandered district are working class.  Why do they vote for this man who votes for tax breaks for the rich?  He has ridden on the Tea Party band wagon since the beginning of that stubborn, unreasonable group.

I understand these people.  I grew up as one of them.  In college, where I majored in journalism, besides the classes in how to write headlines and “the Law of the Press”, I took courses in political science, economics, and religion.  My father told me, “I wish we had not let you go to college, because you turned away from the way you were brought up.”  If Daddy were alive today, he would be 129 years old and probably have the same attitude as the woman who shuttered at the name “Obama”. 

This is only the beginning.  It will take many blogs to expand why people hate Obama.  Be prepared.  Many rants to come.