McCain will be better for defense than Obama/Clinton; the media is Liberal; the economy always does better with a Republican in the Whitehouse.
Sound familiar?
I went to my dojo today. Lot's of good people there. We're not budding Jet Li's or Jackie Chan's but it's a great workout and we learn a little about self defense at the same time.
So there I was loosening up about 10 minutes before the hour. A woman I've known for about a year asked me who I was going to vote for. I said my candidate of choice had left the campaign so now I was going to vote for Obama. She said she was voting for McCain and then asked another person who responded he was voting for McCain. Another person said she was a Democrat but was voting for McCain. A guy said McCain because he knew the military and had more experience with it and would defend the country better than Obama who had no experience at anything. There was talk of a Liberal media. Economy. More.
Outnumbered yes. But I held my own, using facts and common sense. Did I already say that these are all good people? Nice people. Not morons. They all make between $40k and $70k. No rich, corporate ceo types here.
But it was impossible to convince them of the fallacy of their beliefs. Beliefs instilled over a long period of time by the so called Liberal media. Propaganda that any dictatorship would be proud of, actually.
In the end I had to walk away, finish stretching, and then participate in the workout. I left quickly tonight.
How do we deal with this? These are all nice folks, hard working, well intentioned. And completely sold on the lies we have heard for too long. There are some good signs for the general election but I'm just pessimistic. I see the swift boating coming. And I see the media, our fourth estate, failing us once again.
With McCain as president, and maybe someone like Huckabee as VP, we're in for 8 to 16 years of what we've got now, maybe a little better (or I should say, a little less terrible).
I don't know what to do. I've written countless letters to the editor over the past 8 years (most of them published), made telephone calls for candidates, distributed leaflets, donated to various candidates all over the country, been a member of my town's Democratic committee.
But I see these nice, good people who can't get past what they've been fed since they were kids and I see the country slipping away.
Screw it. It's late. I'm going to bed.