I hoped he wouldn’t vote
I had an interesting conversation with someone a few weeks ago in which politics crept into the discussion, and my hope was that he wouldn’t vote.
No, I didn’t want him to skip his turn in the voting booth because I disagree with him. Quite the contrary. I hoped he would not vote because I do agree with him on the important issues of the day, and his vote would have been at odds with what he believes in and what he seems to want for America.
This fellow of whom I speak is a small business owner and tradesman, a blue-collar skilled worker who is very good at what he does and takes an obvious pride in the quality of his work. He is a very personable fellow as well, interesting, knowledgeable and enjoyable to talk with.
As he worked and we talked about important issues of the day and some not so important, things turned to politics and the presidential election. He made it clear that he felt all politicians are corrupt, not an unusual sentiment these days.
An intense dislike for Hillary Clinton came through loud and very clear. He said that was pleased that Donald Trump would likely carry Frederick County. Thinking it impolite, I did not ask who he was going to vote for. But, I got the impression that he is a proud Frederick Countian who was going to, and likely did, cast his ballot for Republican candidate Trump.
Now here is where it got interesting. As we talked, he said that he thought that out of the whole bunch Tim Kaine would make the best president. Imagine my surprise as he went on about the good job he believed Tim Kaine had done for Virginia.
As we continued our chat, this very interesting fellow said he believes the Iraq war was a big mistake and that all of the money being spent on these wars should be spent on infrastructure projects like roads and bridges in this country, putting people back to work. When I said he was starting to sound like a liberal, he recoiled at the thought.
Detecting a leftward leaning in thought, in spite of his disdain for the liberal label, I decided to share a story with this fellow. I told him about a friend of mine living in Germany who jokingly complained about socialized medicine saying, “Socialized medicine sucks!!! Without an appointment I walked into a doctor’s office. I waited 5 minutes, then spoke to a doctor for 13 minutes waited for 2 minutes to get my prescriptions and left without any copay.“ To this, while he continued his work, this Trump supporting presumably republican voter replied, “Why don’t we have that here?”
Now it just seems to me that beneath the surface, this guy just might be a good Democrat. Why then does he recoil at being labeled a liberal? Why would he (presumably) vote for Trump? How many folks out there share his views but voted for Trump?
How many might have helped to put Trump in office by voting against their own interests?
