Okay — this is my first diary with Daily Kos — I’ve lurked for years and just recently joined as a member.
I’ve always been a bit awed by the posters here — so many interesting people living very interesting lives — with stories to match. I’ve always felt that anything I posted probably wouldn’t measure up in some way — so I’m starting out with baby steps as respects my first diary! (Caution: Curse words were used ;). Follow me past the orange yarn-ball for the story . . . :
Last night — while doing my obligatory 40 minutes on the treadmill, the phone rang. The caller ID said “Americans for Prosp” — which I took to mean “Americans for Prosperity”. Mischief got the better of me when I decided to answer the call.
A very nice lady on the other end asked for either myself or my husband. I told her who I was, and she proceeded to tell me she would like to ask me a few questions on behalf of “Americans for Prosperity”. I said sure — why not?
Her first question as whether or not I agreed with the President’s 2010 health care act. I said that I sure did, because letting people die without health insurance was “pretty fucking insane”.
Moving on, she then asked me who I would be most likely to support — a Republican or Democratic nominee for President. At that point, I told her that I was a Democrat, and would be voting straight ticket Democratic down the line.
Moving on again, she asked me about the national debt. I replied that it didn’t seem a problem with the previous administration — when two wars (of dubious origin) were being fought essentially on a credit card — so why would I worry about it now?
She then asked me about the national deficit — which I thought was strange, considering her last question. I again reminded her that the previous administration practically made a meme out of saying “deficits don’t matter” — so again, why should it now be a concern all of a sudden?
She then asked me if I would consider higher taxes to pay off this apparently looming national debt/ deficit problem. I told her I was totally and completely fine with higher taxes — and that it should be borne by the higher earners. I told her it was scandalous that Warren Buffet’s secretary paid more in taxes than he did. I told her that if the tax system were fixed along those lines, and that goes a long way to fixing our debt/deficit problem. I also reminded her that pretty much all countries ran and debt/deficit problem, and that if she couldn’t differentiate between a household budget and a national budget, she might want to consult an economics professor.
Well — that put her completely off her pre-planned script, so I just decided to free-form it from there.
So, I took that opportunity to speak my mind about other things.
I told her that Social Security would be fine if they would just eliminate the salary cap. Sure — some tweaking would have to be made for the higher-salary people that would now be included in the system — but it can be done. We do actually have smart people trying their best to make this system work.
I told her that I was more than happy to pay taxes — that they buy me civilization. Oh, I know — it’s not sexy, and former president’s war cronies can’t make money off it, but that’s how first-world countries operate (or should).
I couldn’t help but ask her this: Why is there always money for war, but never enough money to put into repairing our country’s infrastructure or fixing our schools? She had no answer.
I reminded her that the result of running a country on a shoestring while going off to fight wars in distant lands was a country back home with a crumbling infrastructure, as evidenced by the Flint water crisis. She mumbled something about “yes, that is bad” — but nothing more. I guess if it happens to poor and black people, in their minds it’s less of a crisis. At least Tom Selleck didn’t have to steal lead-poisoned water for his estate — did he?
Side Note: My husband built and then ran the Houston VA Medical Center until 2006, when he retired. We were in Houston when Hurricane Katrina hit (and then Rita in East Texas just a few weeks later). I won’t go into details about how he busted his butt, trying to get small medical outposts up and running, and how the Houston VA Medical Center had to take in pretty much all the patients from the New Orleans VA Medical Center. I know a little bit about unsung government employee heroes having to do the impossible with virtually no money. While I am very proud of my husband’s government service, I have to be honest and say that I am glad he is no longer having to deal with the pressure. They really don’t give the VA the money and resources they need to properly care for the veterans.
I also told her that there was no way in hell I would consider voting for a candidate of a party so bereft of leadership skills or intelligence that they outsourced their party’s nomination process to a entertainment channel, and then expected me to vote for the eventual candidate. I made sure she understood that I was talking about Fox News. I also told her that the Republican party should be ashamed of their current crop of candidates.
I do have to give her credit, though — she remained very pleasant and polite throughout the entire call — even agreeing with me on some points.
I did notice that she stayed away from the cultural issues — gay marriage, abortion and so forth. I don’t know whether that wasn’t in her script, or whether she decided by this point not to ask me about these things.
She thanked me for taking the call and answering her questions, and I thanked her for asking them. It ended with both of us wishing the other a good evening.
So — I have decided this year to take each and every one of the political polling/research calls that I can. Hell — if only to let them know that there is a huge swath of people in our country who not only aren’t Republicans, we vehemently disagree with their way of thinking.
I would like to thank Daily Kos for helping me with that, by the way. If it weren’t for me reading this site, and taking in all the other viewpoints from you guys — the posters — I wouldn’t have felt near a confident in speaking my mind about these things. I also wouldn’t have felt as confident about publishing this first diary of mine — so thank you again.
What about you guys — are you avoiding or looking forward to pollsters calling you this year? I welcome your comments and feedback. I would add a Poll, except I don’t know how to do that ;).
Thanks!