My uncle is a conservative dentist in Chicago. He never shared in the Chicago pride with my parents and I over the rise of our beloved Senator to the rank of front-runner for arguably the most powerful position in the world. In fact, this was a guy that I distinctly remember peering upon my newly-acquired nose ring as I sat in his dentist's chair, home on a break from college, and sneering, "I'm gonna rip that thing right off of your face, you tree hugger." (That should come off more tongue-in-cheek and lighthearted than it reads - he's actually a very nice man.)
So, for a few months now, my uncle and I have been engaged in an electronic war of words (and forwarded partisan propaganda). I'd like to share the story arc of correspondence that has occurred between us, starting way back in June and ending with the bombshell I received from him yesterday afternoon.
June 24, 2008: One of the first political back-and forths we've engaged in ends with my uncle writing:
Gonna put al you liberals in work camps to produce energy to screw the F ing AAAArabs
Maybe now would be the time to explain that W just really has a sick sense of humor, and perhaps some latent retro attitudes, but he doesn't mean any of this shit seriously. He's in all honesty just trying to rile me up.
This is where things start to get interesting...
August 29, 2008: My unlces's reaction to Obama's DNC speech:
Your boy did you proud. Liked what he had to say & the way he said it. I'm starting to think he might be able to handle the crazy fucker from Iran. Bravo !!! You definitely took the first inning. Might be a great year for you. Cubs & Obama. He's got my interest now. Looking forward to the debates.
Here's to hoping his wrong prediction about the Cubs doesn't end up the same way as Obama...
August 31, 2008: In response to an article that talks about how, for the first time in history, life expectancy in this country has gone down, I wrote:
Are we better off than we were 8 years ago? Economically, I don't know how much I'll be affected by whomever takes office but it is a shame that people's lives are cut short because they can't afford health care and middle class families won't be able to send their kids to college.
My uncle, in response:
You got that right, can't wait for socialized medicine, maybe I'd be considered to old or unproductive to have the surgeries I've had. Maybe we can be like Canada where you can die waiting for a bye-pass. & can't wait to try to retire when I'll be taxed so much we might have to get my wife a part time job since Obama is gonna make sure everyone has jobs & everything else. Don't be so sure you & I won't be affected by either one of them. They both scare the shit out of me.
September 9, 2008: My uncle forwards me this joke:
I asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'
She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'
'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her. 'You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'
She thought that over for a few seconds while her Mom glared at me, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?' I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'
Me:
Here's a riddle! Why was the homeless guy homeless?
Cause the Republicans gave tax breaks to his company to ship his job overseas!
My Uncle:
Lighten up Francis. (From the movie Stripes if your not familiar with my reference) Obama should have picked you as VP. You make Sarah the Pit Bull look like a lap dog. I'm afraid to open your emails, I cower in the corner, shakung before I open them.
After this, correspondence ceased for a bit (my doing- I was pissed he compared me to Sarah Palin).
September 17, 2008 Uncle:
In the last six months 292 have been murdered in Chicago.
Sens. Barack Obama & Dick Durbin, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Gov. Rod Blogojevich, House leader Mike Madigan, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Mayor Richard Daley..... are the leadership in Illinois..... and all Democrats are, of course, blaming each other. They can't blame Republicans; they're aren't any!
The state pension fund is $44 Billion in debt, worst in country. Cook County (Chicago) sales tax is 10.25%, highest in country. The Chicago school system one of the worst in country. This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois.... and he's 'gonna fix Washington politics'?
Me:
Hate to tell you this, but every major city in the US is in dept currently. And if you still want to make that argument, why not look at the federal deficit, which was run into the ground by, wait for it....Republicans?
I guess Republicans only use a specific argument when they can point to evidence in their favor.
September 19, 2008: My uncle:
If it weren't for the helicopters getting caught in a sandstorm in the Sahara desert, we would have rescued the Iranian hostages and Carter would have been re-elected. Also since inexperience is stressed in that filmclip, Sarah Palin is next in line from a 73 year-old man who had malignant melanoma. The discussion stops when the ignorant woman doesn't even believe in evolution. As a man who has practiced dental medicine his whole adult life and took comparative anatomy, think about that!!
October 5, 2008: Got an email from my uncle, entitled "The American People Showing Their Love For Wall Street." Inside:
October 8, 2008: Finally, although I could sense my uncle wearing down to my point of view, I was still SHOCKED when he wrote me this:
A month ago I never thought I would entertain these thoughts. After listening to JM & Hockey Barbie talk in circles over the past few weeks ,watching my retirement fund tank & listening to JM's solutions to our problems, I will be voting for BO & JB. It scares me to think that there is a possibility that we could have four more years of deregulation, war in Iraq & irresponsible Government spending this country will never be able to repay. I don't agree with many of BO's plans, But I do believe he is the lesser of the two evils. I also feel that our economy will start to recover if BO is elected. He's also shown me that he has the stones to stand up to our enemies. As far as his tough stance about Iran & Israel, I hope he can walk the walk, he certainly can talk the talk. Happy New Year to all & hoping for a better tomorrow.
I don't think there was a final nail in McCain's campaign coffin for Uncle W. I think that these leanings have been a long time coming, but because the right-wing propaganda machine had been so successful at smearing the title of "liberal" to the point where it's become a dirty word, there has been a reluctance to subscribe to that label.
But I think this election season has broken the mold for both parties. George W. Bush and John McCain have made it abundantly clear that the Republican party no longer represents the conservative tenets of fiscal responsibility, limited government, right to privacy and everything upon which the GOP was initially built. They represent power gone crazy, capitalizing and manipulating its people and taking advantage of the lack of accountability they've been able to build for themselves. Barack Obama, on the other hand, represents not anti-pragmatic morally-dictating stereotype liberals have been portrayed as, but as the voice of the pragmatic solution that will address the causes of America's challenges and unite us as a country.
The lesson here I hope to portray is that we cannot just cut off the conversation with our friends and family members who don't subscribe to the progressive school of though. We need to engage them, challenge their beliefs, and debunk the myths that turn them away from embracing the change we need.