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Blogs by Sandy Knauer
Choices 1/2/2004 7:33:28 AM
A friend stopped by the other day, disappointed to learn that his favorite hardware store had closed. “All the little guys are gone, so we really don’t have any choices left. I hate that,” complained.
I empathized, since the pain of having my favorite bookstore succumb to Borders was still fresh.
A few minutes later he whined about getting the wrong lunch order at a drive-through, and reminded me that one of his pet peeves is restaurants that refuse to honor the customer’s special requests. Apparently, he was in the mood to complain about everything because he looked around at the campaign material that his visit had pulled me from and started anew. “And why can’t the Democrats get their act together? How can you belong to a party where this one constantly complains about what that one has done? How do you expect to win an election when you can’t even agree on a candidate?”
I took a deep breath and tried to understand his lack of consistency. “Didn’t you just tell me how you resent not having choices in hardware stores and food orders, and resent that people aren’t listening to you,” I asked. “Why don’t you expect the same from your political party where the stakes are much higher?”
“All you guys do is argue,” he continued.
“Argue, discuss, debate. It’s all in how you want to look at things, or in how you’ve been told to look at things maybe,” I countered. I explained that I am proud to stand up for what I believe in, and content to belong to a party in which I can still do so. I don’t like it at all when George Bush lies or seals records in an attempt to keep me from discovering just how much he has misled me. Why should I like it when Howard Dean does the same? I don’t like it when someone says one thing and votes another (or doesn’t bother to vote at all), so why shouldn’t I question Gephart or Kerry if I believe they have done this? Isn’t this how we assure that we are getting what we asked for from them? My biggest pet peeve is double standards, anywhere, from anyone.
“I agree with the Democratic Party philosophy. The bonus is that they give me real choices. When I look at the slate of candidates before me today, I see people from one end of the spectrum to the other. I can go to their websites, their voting records, news articles, and make a real choice, knowing that any one of them is an improvement over what we have,” I explained. “So why do you support a party that wants you to toe the party line, ignoring their lies, allowing them to take away all of your choices and rights without question?”
“Good question,” he answered. Fortunately, I had a stack of registration cards on the table. He left for the mega home improvement store with one in hand, and with flyers to help him make a real choice.
