Like most of the people here on Kos, I'm a political junkie and I'm here to get my fix, daily, rain or shine. At some point, having all this information and a variety of viewpoints, not to mention background and specifics, creates a problem for me. I start to assume everyone else knows this stuff too. At least the basics...
Uh, no. No, they don't, they really don't.
I had a conversation this morning with a couple of ladies in housekeeping. I make it a point to talk to them every day and tell them how much I appreciate what they do, and about once a week, I'll extend the conversation a bit to find out what they're thinking about politics, etc, because it gives me a good idea of what people who don't live on blogs think about the world.
Yesterday was quite an eye-opener.
Now, I don't pretend to be any kind of genius where the economy is concerned, but I think I get the basics fairly well. Gas is high because the dollar is worth less, right?
We're sitting in the breakroom, talking about what a moron (or rather, moran) Bush is and how he's destroyed this country, etc. and they start talking about the cost of gas.
"It'll be $5 a gallon by the end of the summer," one opines to me. I nod agreement and add "Maybe six"
Her: "If oil is such a damn problem, why are they pumping it out of Alaska and sending it to China? Why not just keep it here?"
Me: "Maybe because we owe them so much money we can't afford to say no?"
Her: "Do you know they borrowed that money from China for our tax rebates?"
Not entirely accurate, but at least she knows the money added to our debt. At this point I feel rather hopeful, because most people I run into don't seem aware that the US has maxed out all its credit cards and the bill is coming due.
Me: "We've borrowed money from everyone, not just China. Britain, Saudi Arabia, we owe everybody."
She leans across the table a bit and says, quite earnestly, "Well, they just need to print some more money and pay that off."
For a moment, it feels like my brain locks up. Where do you even start? Me: "But that will just make the dollar worth less." Of course, I'm getting ready to add that that will cause gas, food, electricity and everything else to go up, and we still won't have the debt paid off, but I see the look on her face. I didn't agree with her idea like she thought I would.
But she knows she's right about this. "Well, they just need to print some more, that's all."
Now, none of these women thought the gas tax holiday thing was anything more than a gimmick and didn't buy into the hype. They show remarkable discernment over some issues and they do pay attention. But they also think the nomination is being stolen from Hillary because men don't want a woman in charge.
Wish me luck--tomorrow I'm going to try and explain the whole Florida and Michigan thing to them...