In order to recruit more volunteers in non-conventional
means I’ve been wearing political T-shirts on my regular morning visits to the
gym. It’s either a white Penzone one for
The New Sheriff, or a purple one that says “Next Stop BLUE. “
Last week I approached two long-time regulars. The first one I had never had any exchange
with over the years. Nothing but an
occasional nod. But he almost always
wears an Army T-shirt, so I used this as an opener. We talked about various candidates, about his
recent retirement from the Reserves. I
thanked him for his service, but it turned out that he was more concerned about
voter fraud, and said that the voter rolls needed to be purged.
“That’s what those of us in the Tea Party feel is the
greatest threat to our democracy.”
When pressed for real cases
of voter fraud he pointed out that his parents, who have been dead for five
years, are still listed on the voter rolls.
“Has anyone used their names to vote,” I asked. And he said that no one had.
“So what’s the fraud?” I asked. “It sounds like perhaps poor management at
the local elections office, if they’ve
been notified.” And at that we parted
ways.
More distressing was a chat with a gym buddy with whom I
always have friendly discussions. He
knows that I’m an organizer for the Democratic Party. Although he says that he’s an Independent, he
has always expressed friendly interest.
This time he wanted to tell me that he had voted early,
which is a good thing, but not to re-elect The President. He insisted on telling me why: He promised that he would do something about
illegal immigration and he hasn’t.
The revealing part was his further explanation –even though
I didn’t ask.
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