Unfortunately There Is No Secret Handshake

Theresa asked if it was hard not to support GWB and live in Texas. The answer is, yes, a lot of the time. I live in the land of Good 'Ol Boys and they still run things around here, grooming their sons to do the same. They see GWB as one of them. I actually had a guy tell me that he was voting for Bush in part because "he worked his way up". Many, many people feel this way.

It's also bible belt country. Every Sunday most of the people in this state go to church and learn that the bible is to be taken literally. The bible says that gay people are sinners. The bible says if you don't obey the laws of Jesus you're going to burn in eternal damnation. GWB can quote the bible like the best preacher. How can you go against a leader who tells you he's born again, and God speaks through him without risking an afterlife in hell?

You learn to keep your mouth shut about politics around people you don't know well. Most of my friends and family are liberal to varying degrees. When I'm driving around and every single mini van and suv has a Bush in 04 sticker on it, I wonder how I found anyone at all who agrees with me. One of my high school friends recently told me that she felt like homosexuality is a mental illness and that women who have children should not work, in fact she questioned why a family member had even decided to have children if she was going to continue to work. These are not unusual attitudes here. Racism is also still an issue, although in my experience it has been directed almost exclusively at Mexican-Americans. I have learned to make it clear that what is being said makes me uncomfortable and remove myself from the company of those bigots. Austin is the one spot of solid blue on our red state. It's like a breath of fresh air to go there. And artistic communities are always a safe haven. I think people here are like people everywhere. They love their family, the like their safe, routine lives, and change or anything unusual or different from their little world is frightening, and therefore easily perceived as wrong. I cannot tell you the amount of shit I got for becoming a vegetarian. Complete strangers would ask me why I didn't want to eat meat. Once at Fizoli's I asked for a sandwich without meat and the woman literally stood agape for at least 30 seconds before asking me why, then rolled her eyes when I explained.

The big issues for me aren't fiscal or environmental in nature. I worry about my right to decide what's best for my body as a woman, I worry about two people who are in love and happen to be the same gender having the right to marry like the rest of us, I worry about war and haven't yet thought of a scenario in which it's a better solution than diplomacy, I worry about the perception the world has of our country and how it helps to encourage more and more hate toward us. If I had answers I would run for office. But I think one of the problems with politics in general now is that only people who crave power and/or are arrogant enough to think they have all the answers make up most of the leadership population.