Relections on a Tea Party

This blog has always been about the culture shock I experienced when moving from the Northeast to good ol' Texas. In a presidential election year, I moved from Ithaca, New York, easily one of the most liberal places in the country, to Texas, easily one of the most conservative. I've gotten into political "discussions" ("fights" just sounds bad) in bars, at work and among friends. With these discussions has not only come a lot of ranting and raving, but an opening of my eyes to the incredibly varied beliefs of others.

Yesterday, "Tea Parties" swept the nation as conservatives fought against higher taxes and, by extension, President Obama. Protests ranged from justified anger at the current economy to outright racism. Twitter showed both sides - the tag #teaparty for supporters and #teabagger for those opposed. Before I start ranting and raving again, let me enumerate some basic truths:

1. Most people believe it's their way or the highway. I've seldom agreed with my conservative family (sorry Gramps!) and often find it impossible to understand their perspective.
2. People love to complain.
3. People love to think that these complaints are going to change the world. Don't believe me? Watch any political "news" show on television. I can't anymore.

Thus, we have ourselves a Tea Party. A rebellion against perceived injustices, a tradition begun over 200 years ago.

And I'm fine with it. The Constitution, which we have spent the past 8 years trying to defend, guarantees the right to assemble. The right to carry Confederate Flags (as much as they stand for evil, prejudiced things), the right to voice dissent against the President (no longer do the Alien and Sedition acts stand, sorry) and the right to moan, whine and complain about things that you may not understand.

Fellow liberals, dissenters and others: please stop your insults and degradation against those who simply needed to let off steam. 4 years ago, they were calling us "liberal hippies" and dismissing us as we are dismissing them. Intolerance begets intolerance, and that's just not what we need right now. Let them cry, let them complain. Maybe once that's over, we can begin the process of learning how to work together again to solve all the real problems out there.

And I just found out that the Governor of Texas wants to secede. I think this blog's back in action.

Thank yous from abroad

I love the "Yes We Can" video from Will.I.Am. Even more now, I love the comments that have been posted (and yes, I am ignoring the racist, bigoted BS that always appears in YouTube comments). Some examples:

Congratulation for Obama from Brazil!!!!

Felicitaciones!!!!
Sin duda esto va a dar nuevas esperanzas a millones de personas en todo el mundo
Presidente Obama!!

YES YOU DID !!!!
congratulations you all americans !!!
Thanks so much

Congrats, this is history in the making folks. Best of luck from your neighbours to the north, you deserve it

Enhorabuena al nuevo presidente de los Estados Unidos. Greetings from Spain.

Thanks to everyone who voted obama from north west london UK you've saved the world.

Yes. We. Can. And we did!

When I Found Out

Growing up, the 2 big questions I always had for my parents were "where were you when the first man walked on the moon" and "where were you when you heard JFK was killed?" I know now that I will have my own question to answer: "where were you when Obama was elected?"

My answer:

I was sitting my couch with some of my closest friends, watching the predictions roll in. I'd been assured of a landslide victory all day, but I wasn't buying it. I refused to buy champagne because I didn't want to be the one person that jinxed our country's best chance for change (and yes, I am that superstitious). I cheered when New Jersey went Democratic and nearly cried when Texas was initially declared "too close to call". Finally, at 9:59, Wolf Blitzer made the call.

With 20 seconds left before the West Coast polls officially closed, CNN's anchor declared, "I think after we get these results, we'll have a major prediction to make". All Obama needed was California and the (predicted) victory was his. We counted down like it was New Year's Eve and I inched closer and closer to the edge of my couch, head in my hands, too nervous to watch.

I heard the now-famous CNN Prediction jingle, looked up and saw "Barack Obama Elected President". I fell to the floor, unable to speak, completely in shock. It had happened. We had done it. We had risen above bigotry and deceit to elect the best candidate to our highest office.

Congratulations, America. I'm proud!

Best Headline Ever Award

Just a quick post to award the "Best Headline Ever" award to CNN:

McCain Roach Wins in Landslide

I just also have to point out that this race apparently took place in Jersey, so a big shoutout to my home state - you sure know how to pick 'em!

Being a Northern Liberal in the Good 'Ol South

Being a liberal in Texas is kind of like having a weird hobby. You enjoy it, you know others enjoy it, but there's really no good way of finding out who else likes collecting stamps or categorizing bugs (ew.) In my case, I kind of listen to the people in my office talking, and when one of them says one of a few key words (Obama and Democrat, for example) without sneering, spitting, or otherwise freaking out, I usually approach them. The next step is to quietly ask, "so you like Obama too?" and go from there.

Funny enough, those I know who align themselves with the conservative side of the political coin aren't saying much about their love for John McCain. The consensus seems to be that they not only are afraid of Obama (because he's clearly Muslim and his wife is unpatriotic), but they're afraid of McCain as well.

(Sometimes I feel like a spy, planting anti-McCain thoughts in the minds of my "Republican" buddies)

I've encountered a lot of mockery from my family about being a "dirty liberal". Then I went away to college and started to lean even more to the left. Now I'm down in Texas and the whole politics thing (even in a city like Dallas) is kind of hush-hush. Yet, as we get closer to November, and politics start being on everyone's mind (I hope), what's a Jersey girl to do?

Maybe the same thing I do to my Grandpa - retaliate to his McCain propaganda with fact check and some snippy photos from Pundit Kitchen and hope, come November, everyone will see the light. (That's my light. Not the McCain light. The Obama light. Right.)