(I am reposting this diary because I originally posted it midday Sunday when things were slow here, and want to get more feedback on it.)
If you watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Mile High last week like I did, then you probably enjoyed his challenge to America to make the Republicans "own their failure". This is, of course, a reference to the Republican idea of an "Ownership Society"; a mythical land where we all own our own fair portion of the American Dream. This mythical Ownership Society is the perfect reflection of the Republican's professed belief that every American should have a chance to own their own future, but also be reponsible ("personal responsibility")for themselves and not pass the blame for their bad circumstances onto others. But how far does the Ownership Society go? I intend to follow this question all the way down the rabbit hole, and it may go in directions that are uncomfortable to contemplate or accept, so if you decide to read on, then you are forewarned.
The "Ownership Society" is a view of how the world ought to work that is focused squarely, almost exclusively, in economics. But what about politics? If there is any part of American society where all Americans are truly on an equal footing, it is at the ballot box.
Now, I understand that when it comes to things like campaign contributions, tv advertising, corporate media reporting, voter caging and things like this, there are vast inequalities in our political system. But nevertheless, when I step into the voting booth I know that I get just as many votes for president as Bill Gates does: one.
The votes that we cast in the voting booth have an very real affect on our lives and the lives of others who live in this country alongside us. My question to you is: to what extent do people who cast the wrong vote "own" the consequences of their vote? If they cast a vote that is against their self interest, even to the point of costing them their lives, do they deserve any sympathy or help from those of us who try to warn and educate them?
This is a question that has been bothering me recently, because it touches me in a somewhat personal way. I am a Marine Reservist here in Oregon, and I have been since September of 2004. In my time in the Marine Corps, both in training and in my unit, I have found it to be a very conservative, and almost a partisan Republican organization. It isn't uncommon for officers to put in digs against "liberals" when they are speaking before our company about the war. It isn't uncommon to see viral e-mails and other printouts of the sort posted up on walls in the company offices that bash on Democrats, liberals, war protesters, and the like.
Needless to say, the vast majority of Marines in my unit that I have spoken to about the election this year voted for Bush in 2004, and will vote for McCain in 2008. I have no doubt that of all the military personnel that have died in Iraq, the large majority of them were Bush supporters, and supported the belligerently hawkish, conservative mindset that put them in Iraq in the first place. And I have conflicting feelings about this. On the one hand, I think it is a horrible thing for someone to die before their time in Iraq, and the pain that it causes for those they leave behind is very powerful and very real. But on the other hand, I must admit there is a part of me that says: "you asked for this. No one put a gun to your head and made you volunteer. Hell, we all volunteered. You made a bad choice, and now you have paid the price for your bad choice". How does one reconcile the natural instinct towards compassion and pity with the factual reality that the vote they cast helped to contribute to their death?
And there are many other areas where this conflict between head and heart comes up. In Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the country, Republicans were able to run up some of their biggest margins in the last few elections. The people who live there actively vote against their own self-interest. They are not "helping themselves" in a political sense. If they care so little about their own poverty that they are willing to elect Republicans who will only work to keep them in poverty, then why should I care any more? If one of them came up to you on the street and complained about how their healthcare is lousy and they can't make ends meet, and then you noticed they were wearing a "McCain/Palin" button, what would be your reaction? Would you try to explain to them why they were stupidly voting against their own self-interest (in other words, of course) or would you simply say "you made your bed, now lie in it"?
I would like to here form other people here, and start a discussion hopefully. Do you ever have the same feelings I have related here? Is there a part of you that just wishes we could have one America for liberals and the intelligent, and let the conservatives have their own country to screw up without us having to live with their consequences? When you look at a new poll, and you see that Obama isn't running away with this thing by a landslide, even after all that has happened for 8 years, do you feel a little bit disgusted in your own country? Let me know what you think.