No matter the span between entries, I'm always thinking about my next blog post. After all, I'm running around being a political activist. My experiences give me plenty material. Just this past Saturday, I was down in Victoria for a Democratic rally. What an incredible day! It was a chance to network with other Democrats, and again see my next Congresswoman, Rose Meza Harrison. But the highlight was meeting Paul Sadler in a more personal manner, and hearing him speak again since the state convention in June. I can't say enough how Paul exudes honesty, integrity and humility. He is held in the highest esteem by everyone in Texas politics for his bi-partisanship work to benefit public education and teachers. Today, I am travelling to Austin to the Sadler for Senate headquarters to obtain brochures and push cards. I am anxious to get out and start talking to people about Paul. If the people of this state don't get to know Paul, and end up electing the unknown, inexperienced TEA party Republican, Ted Cruz, that will be one sad day in Texas. Our very futures are on the line with this election. We simply cannot get this wrong.
After Saturday's rally, I was on a high like never before. Paul and his staffer, Rosalie, brought lots of yard signs on their stop in Victoria. I brought home six. I took off on Sunday morning, still loaded down with signs, and began making the rounds. I placed a sign on a busy corner in Cedar Creek (Bastrop County) at a Mexican food restaurant. I also placed a sign in the yard of a good Lockhart Democrat. She has a beauty shop next to her home right on the main thoroughfare, Hwy 183. All that running around, and I was back in Luling before noon. The whole weekend was spent safe and comfortable in the 2010 Ford Edge that belongs to my ex-husband with whom I reside. My car is seventeen years old, and although it's a Nissan, at 235K miles, it has begun its wearing out process. I feel better when I can leave it sitting at home. So, when I have the availability of the Edge on the weekends, I do just that. Sunday evening, he declared that I was no longer welcome to use his car for anything, and certainly not for the work I do for the Democratic cause. Talk about a buzz kill. You see, he's a Republican, and a TEA party Republican, at that. He claims to be proud of me for standing up for my beliefs, but at the same time, he despises those beliefs. He has made it much more difficult, but not even his unreasonable attitude toward me can take me off course. My faithful old Maxima will just have to keep on keeping on for now.
Like many other Republicans I know, my ex-husband doesn't want to hear the reasons why I work hard for the Democrats. He wants to know nothing of platforms or voting records of the very people for which he will cast a vote. He doesn't want to see that they have voted against the best interest of the people time and again. He is caught in the Fox News/Rush Limbaugh fear bubble, in his case, because of a deep-rooted racism that was commonplace in south Louisiana where he grew up. I was just recently back there with him and our children for the funeral of his 30-year-old nephew. Let's just say that racism is alive and well just as openly as it was during his childhood in the 60s. I weep for this shameful legacy of my country. I also weep for the millions of other women who feel powerless because of economic constraints on their happiness and freedom. This is exactly what the Republican lawmakers want; a society that is an oppressed, vulnerable, uneducated flock of sheep. They lie, and tell us only what we want to hear. They are playing us like violins. And, while we sit back eating grapes to the sounds of the beautiful music, they are systematically stripping our rights, and taxing us into obscurity. We're being willingly screwed, and asking for more. The world is watching and wondering if we'll ever change.
And, Atlas shrugged...
~ PLS
I've never had the displeasure of coming across Tea Party Republicans like you described in person but I've seen their posting in our local papers online forum.
ReplyDeleteI've worked and partied with conservatives all my life but there were reasonable people but our politics were different. We would get to a point but never reach the point of no return. Of course we wanted to keep our jobs and that probably have a lot to do with it.
My extended family is not interested in politics, so our family gatherings are pretty dull..:-) I'm always watching some kind of political TV show, (so my wife of 45 years last week) is really starting to get into politics. I guess I'm lucky because I'm her mentor ...lol
She got off the phone the other day and told me that one of her friends said" I've known you all these years and I never knew you were a liberal." My wife had no idea what she was talking about but she knew her friend was a conservative republican because she would constantly let everyone know. .
Hang in there... After 10 years of Rick Perry, things are bound to be picking up.
OMG, Mike. 45 years? That's amazing. Congratulations and blessings to you both.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is, one day, seemingly out of the blue, I decided to become very outspoken and active where politics is concerned. And in direct contrast to everything he believed. This now makes living with him different, uncomfortable. During our 17-year marriage, he always stayed abreast of politics. Me, not so much. He never shared or spoke about politics, he just followed by means of listening to conservative talk radio. Now, when we're around friends, any talk about politics is to poke fun at me and my beliefs...it's become sport almost, defending myself amongst my inner circle. When I started college in 2009, my passion was lit by a certain, young, black Poli Sci professor to whom I am eternally grateful. Aundra Hawkins. He was passionate about liberal ideology, and about the historic nature of Barack Obama's presidency. By semester's end, he knew that a fire inside me had burst into flames. I would love to run into him nowadays so I can tell him all about his impact on my life, and what I've been up to. :))