Reply #9: I just ran to the grocery store for milk, and left spending $100 bucks [View All]

[Emit]

on a 'few' items -- coffee, milk, fruits, veges, cereal. I double-checked the receipt when I got home because I honestly don't know how it all added up!

On a not so similar note, I canvassed last week in a neighborhood (for the Dem Party here) doing a survey -- questions like, "If the elections were held today, would you vote for the Dem candidate or for the Repub candidate?" and "What are the main issues concerning you this election year?" Choices range from education, health care, Iraq war, taxes, etc. Anyway, we walked a rather transient neighborhood, targeting Non-partisan voters, Repub women and a few Dems.

These were working class people, lower income families, some older people who'd probably lived there for years and years, some hispanic families, lots of veterans (it was right near the VA hospital -- my old neighborhood, actually, where we rented when my first born was just a little one) -- but the neighborhood is a little rough, too -- a lot of run down rentals, a lot of 'half' addresses where I had to search to find the place behind someone else's house or complex, older apartment complexes, etc.

Anyway, every time I knocked on a Republican's door, I thought to myself, why are they registered Republicans? Especially today? What have the Repubs done for these folks? And, the responses! Yikes -- one guy, Non-partisan, said he usually voted for the Repubs -- he's got four kids, he's living in a rental --a tiny run-down house on a busy street corner near down town, and what was his concern? Values -- family value issues -- that our country has lost their values and he's voting Repub this year for that reason. WTF?

The other thing I noticed? These folk are not paying attention. The majority had no clue who was running in what race. Whether they just don't care, or whether they are too busy with making ends meet -- they are not paying attention. When I do these surveys, even though I'm working on behalf of the party, I am not allowed to persuade people (persuading people is my other volunteer job I do in the evenings) I have to just ask the questions, input the data and move on.

But, this time, I did try to direct some people, two in particular -- one 27 year-old Dem who answered the door in her pj's 'cause she was sick and had no health care to see a doc -- had just moved here -- well, we all know the sad story -- and she said she'd vote Dem all the way, but when I asked her the last question, "How likely are you to vote in November?" She said maybe. Maybe. "Maybe!!??" I asked. I urged her to vote -- explained to her the imbalance in our government right now -- talked to her about the candidates, etc. I think she'll vote. The other was a very young woman with a few kids -- she had no clue who was running, and she said she worked for Homeland Security but had no dental coverage. What? No dental coverage with a federal position? I don't know how true this was -- but, still, I know our insurance doesn't cover much dental either. I encouraged her to go down to the Dem office and research the candidates -- she asked about the Repubs running. I told her they were all incumbents -- because here in this state, they are -- and if she wanted more of the same, vote Repub.

Folks, this breaks my heart. Going door to door in these neighborhoods, talking to people who are just eeking by, knowing that they are not paying attention, knowing that they are not likely to vote, or even whether they know who they are voting for or what they are voting for....

Sorry about the rant, but your OP just set me off and made me think back to that particular day -- and this is not the first time I've experienced this -- I've walked a few neighborhoods now -- many like this one, or worse as far as income-level, and I get the same responses -- registered Repubs living in trailers on gravel roads with no doorsteps, no sidewalks, and no air conditioning in 100 degree weather, multiple kids at their feet and they're concerned about family values?! Okay. I'll shut up now.