Friend of mine asked my father who he would vote for this November. Without hesitation, he replied, "Kerry, definitely Kerry." To my friend's surprise, "But I thought you are a lifelong republican." she said. "I am and I always will be a conservative republican, and that's exactly why I have to vote for Kerry." my father continued.
Puzzled, my friend asked my father to explain his logic. "Look, I just don't understand all those yapping about healthcare, homeland security mumbo jumbo. They are all talk. Frankly I don't like politicians, period. What I do know, is that I want a small government, less restrictions for us small business owner to operate, lower tax and let me take care of my own family. I am a fiscal conservative, a Reagan-Rockefeller republican. Saving is all that matters to me. "
"But Bush did cut taxes." My friend rebutted. "His tax cut? Psst.! His lousy tax cut isn't enough to pay for my sales' benefits, isn't even enough to pay for fixing my van. Do you know how much my guys need to pay for a week of anti-biotic when he catches an infection? A hundred and twenty bucks! It has been going up every year since he became President. And that SOB doesn't even let people to buy cheaper pills from Canada. When you have a tax cut, it is supposed to stimulate the economy right? People will earn more and spend more right? What, we lost millions of jobs? And when you do find new jobs, you are bumped down from manager to sales, sales to temps. Believe me, my driver has a college degree and a baby coming. You ask him if that tax cut helps him at all. And you tell me, at the end of the day, when you sit down at the kitchen table, going through all your bills, what do you do? You try your best to pay them off, balance the budget. That's what we conservative do: balance the budget and save money. That George W just runs around on a spending binge. And he still calls himself a Republican. LBJ should be proud of him. Just look at the deficit! What, five trillions dollars?! Think about the interest we have to pay for that kind of money! A hundred fifty something billion dollars just the interest. You think Donald Trump is going to pay for it? You and I are going to pay for it! That's just outright irresponsible. And don't forget 200 billion dollars, and counting, that he turns into rubbles and body parts in Iraq. And I just don't see an end to it. I mean, what the hell are we doing there? Saddam is going to hell with our money, our pride and our respect. What is left for us? A big government with a big deficit. Don't tell me we are safer because of Bush. I feel cheated because of him. If he can't give me a small government he can't get my vote. Heck, it took that liberal Clinton to balance the budget and I am going to give Kerry a try. I am not happy about voting for a liberal but over my dead body will I vote for Bush."
My Dad, a proud man who built his business from $1000 borrowed money, raised three kids and put all of us through college all by himself. He is a model republican and doesn't understand why he will end up with three liberal daughters who know nothing about saving money but saving a tree or a whale. We are pro-choice, and he is pro-life. We are against death penalty, and he is all for electrocution. We disagree on just about everything in politics. This November, however, my dad will agree with us, just for one day, one important day; to vote for the same candidate: John Kerry.