I got to sit down with one of my co-workers today and the conversation turned to the upcoming debates on October 4th and seeing who would win. My co-worker is a smart guy, majors in Math, but god is he dumb politically. Maybe it's because he's young, which is fine, but he states right wing talking points but is not actually a right winger (at least in his own thinking). I pretty much pegged him as a libertarian. I was right.
Now with political conversations I try to keep my cool, but I am a hothead and certain things piss me off. I hate stupid right wing talking points and I push back against them whenever I can. I try not to let me temper guide me. At first when our conversation started I did my best to avoid it. I was typing up a paper while he decided he wanted to spend his lunch hour talking. Our conversation went something like this:
Person A: So when are the debates?
Me: October 4th.
Person A: Good. I can't wait to cut through all the bull.
Me: I see. (I'm thinking "If you thought there was bullshit out now, wait until both candidates have to distill their ideas in snappy back and forth soundbites!")
Person A: There just are no good choices out there. On the one hand you have Obama. He just doesn't know what he's doing. He came in with all of these big promises and its been a total disaster.
Me: ..... (I'm thinking "It'll pass just keep working on your paper.")
Person A: I mean I couldn't vote for Romney his campaign is in shambles. ("Way to vote on the issues" I thought) but Obama, Obama is a total socialist. He's destroyed the constitution...
Me: What? (I lost my cool, I'm sorry DKos people but this epithet makes no sense.)
Person A: He's a socialist. Completely and utterly.
Me: Define Socialist.
Person A: Wel uhm....i don't have anything in front of me right now.
Me: Then why did you call him a socialist if you cannot define it? Explain to me how he is a socialist.
Person A: Well I don't have that at my fingertips.
Okay I was getting pissed at this point. You don't have your Fox and Friends cheat sheet of talking points on your lap, so I have to just sit here and listen to you tell me he's a socialist when you don't know what the word means? What? It's not like it's some arcane word from an SAT vocab prep sheet, it's a form of government.
Me: Switzerland is socialist. Norway is socialist. Finland is socialist. Hell, Canada is more socialist than we are.
Person A: But the government is so big...
Me: Prisons are largely privatized. Border security partly is privatized. Schools are becoming privatized. The military is more privatized. Most of the businesses in the economy are not owned by the government but by private actors. How is that socialism? Our tax rate is isn't even that high when you look at incoming tax revenue compared with other countries.
Person A: Well...I don't....
Me: Why would you call him some epithet when you don't even know what the word means?
He's getting flustered and he wishes he could say something back against me but I just busted out with a string of facts. Of course, he probably thinks its all false but I'm sorry, Norway has a wealth tax and a top marginal tax rate of 45%. Socialist. I try to calm down and lighten the mood. Another co-worker is sitting down and listening.
Person A: But we have an 18 trillion dollar deficit and he's spent all this money...
Me: Congress appropriates funds. The President can veto a budget but Congress presents the bill.
Person A: We need a balanced budget and he won't deliver it.
Me: To balance the budget you have to make cuts and raise revenue, but no one wants to cut anything. If you ask Americans if they want to balance the budget, they'll say yes. If you ask them do they want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or cut the Military, then everyone suddenly doesn't want to do it. We spend 55 billion dollars every month in Afghanistan. Do you see people in the streets clamoring for the war to end or foregoing an operation to save on Medicare?
I was being too harsh, I know, but I have a god given temper. I wasn't yelling, but I was aggressive and cut the talking points down. He felt he couldn't get a word in edgewise but at the same time he admitted he couldn't respond. After we talked about something else with coworker B who had been sitting nearby, eating her fries and listening, he said this:
Person A: You pay attention a lot to politics don't you?
Me: Yes. I study it, I've always been into it. If people are going to make big decisions that affects the lives of millions of people, I damned well better know something about it. (The silent coworker nodded when I said this).
Person A: Well, I just wanted to let you know that I couldn't respond back because I didn't know as much as you do about the issues I guess. But I would have liked to have said something back.
Me: You're a Gary Johnson guy aren't you?
Person A: Is he the libertarian candidate? Yeah, I don't agree with everything he says but I like a lot of what he says. I might vote libertarian.
Me: Good.
Sorry, maybe some of you in the community will think I was too rude. I didn't raise my voice but I was visibly pissed. Have opinions about stuff you know something about. Stop parroting what you read in some article online. Guard your mind and start thinking about issues!