These are dangerous times. The Republicans, who have done their best to maintain a stranglehold on the seats of power in the United States, are now, for the first time in years, witnessing a credible pushback against the politics of corruption and fear. Each day that passes brings a new phase of desperation among their ranks. Each day brings news of erratic behaviour. And they will stop at nothing, nothing, to maintain these seats of power - and the ultimate prize, the presidency - in their grasp. These are desperate times. As such, we need to remember to be vigilant. We need to remember that the race is far from over. We need to take a leaf out of the Obama campaign's mighty book and proceed these next 30 days as if we are 4-5 points behind, even as we take heart in the obvious signs of progress that are coming to light. Because nothing is certain until the last vote is cast and nothing can be taken for granted until the last vote is counted. This election is making fools of many. And it is a sad spectacle to witness. I wish to share my recent discovery of a phenomenon that I have been referring to as the "intelligent ignorant" syndrome.
A distant friend of mine comes from a family of staunch Republicans. Every last man, woman and child in this family has voted and/or identified themselves as Republican for generations. For them, the Republicans can do no wrong. By "do no wrong", I mean that even if they criticise some things that Republicans do, these things are never enough to make them consider another party. It's the Republicans or nothing. They are regarded as intelligent people. At least four members of the family have PhDs in fields as diverse as education, engineering and business. This family has nursing administrators, a firefighter, and a couple of scientific researchers. One owns a jewellery store, another is a caterer. It is a large family: these adults also have children and grandchildren, several of whom are in their teens.
It is also an unhealthy family. Firstly, with the exception of ONE young woman, a mother of two, they are all heavily overweight. Three of them can easily be classified as morbidly obese. The matriarch and patriarch are both nearly eighty. They have been plagued by numerous illnesses for at least two decades, and these have been getting worse with each passing year. The father is the only one with anything resembling semi-insurance at the moment, because he was smart enough to invest a bit more at his last job before retirement. Even so, he still has to foot much of the bill for the medicines and treatments he needs from his meagre pension. He has had heart, abdominal and eye surgeries in the past 2 years alone. The mother has difficulty walking, and has had operations on her hip and back in the past year alone. Most members are struggling with various stages of diabetes and thyroid problems, with all that these entail. From all the things they have said over the years, all the problems they have had with healthcare and their financial situation, it would not be a stretch to say that they have been feeling the pinch for quite a while now, and that their quality of life is much worse then it was four years ago, as is their sense of security. Oh yes, and despite their high level of education, several of them have been unemployed or forced to take relatively menial/hourly-paid jobs over the past 6-7 years because their companies had either shut up shop or downsized.
They are addicted to Fox News. Even though they may shout at some idiotic thing a talking head might have said, they do not usually change the channel. They say they do not like McCain. They are mildly annoyed at Bush, but not totally disgusted. Knowing their tendencies, I have always attempted to stay away from politics (they were early in their "distrust" of Obama), just to keep things on an even keel on my rare visits or during telephone calls. Recently, I decided to broach a tentative subject: what, I said, did they think of McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his VP candidate? This was shortly after the Charlie Gibson interview. To say this question unleashed a storm would be to put it mildly. As you can tell, I have had to take a long time to calm myself down before being able to write this, my first diary. Ladies and gentlemen (as Joe Biden often says), this was the mindboggling response to the Gibson interview:
By the way, Dan Quayle was never quizzed like Sarah Palin, so mom and I aren't going to watch Charlie Gibson anymore. It was like the typical job interview I have had, full rectal and pelvic exams. I agree it is the top job in the US but they haven't done it to Biden yet either.
The above quote came on the heels of the following proclamation:
Both these parties don't give a shit about my issues and neither has bothered to say what they will do or how. I think they should not be allowed to run if they don't give information.
This, in the middle of September. And this is a highly-educated person, with nothing to do all day (being unemployed) but find information!
So given the state of her family's health and all their related issues, and lack of savings and jobs and ebbing pensions, why, I asked, would she still want to vote Republican? Does she really think that they are better off than they were eight, or even four years ago? No, she does not. But she cannot vote for Obama because she basically thinks that Obama is a "crook" who "hustled" his way to his current position, that he showed terrible judgement in selecting Biden to be his running mate, and that she could not vote for a Democrat because:
Republicans generally can add and subtract, Democrats don't know math.
Oh yes, and the family is unanimous in its dislike of Michelle Obama, because they think that "she is a racist." She herself, "would not mind Obama so much" if he only planned to "fill up the White House with all his homies(sp.?)", but "he just seems to have so many people pulling him in all directions". Say what??? My eyes were popping out of my head at this point, and it was all I could do to bite my tongue. "It seems to me that it is McCain who has had people pulling him in all directions," I remarked, "he is the one who has been running about like a headless chicken, changing his message every other week. What in that inspires confidence in him as a leader?" No response. Just more "Obama is not to be trusted" rhetoric, straight from Fix Noise. The long and the short of it is that she claims to be so disenchanted with both mainstream candidates that she will probably vote for Nader or Ron Paul. But I am guessing that her spirited defence of Palin's awful interview (haven't heard what she thought of the second one, or the debate - I dare not ask) may mean that she has bounced back into the McCain camp. She sent me a link to a website smearing Obama shortly afterwards. I have not replied. I was furious at first, but all that is left now is sadness. I have never in my life encountered such wilful ignorance from someone whom I had always assumed knew enough to think for herself and rationally.
Why such a long diary? Not just to purge myself of the feelings of horror that have been haunting me since reading those horrific e-mails she sent. I think that more than the scaremongering tactics that the Republicans will employ in their upcoming "Kitchen sink, part 4" routine, the election may well be determined by people such as my friend above, the hidden core of people to whom I now refer as the "intelligent" ignorant. These people are beyond persuasion or reason. These people will never listen. It may be that they are victims of the Faux News doctrine, or that they were never going to vote for someone like Barack Obama anyway, but to vote against their own interests because of long disproved attacks just seems to me to be self-defeating, and not terribly intelligent.
My point is simple: we live in dangerous times. We cannot afford to be complacent. We must not fall into the trap of underestimating the stupidity and or gullibility of (certain factions of) the American people. Let us buckle down in this final stretch and keep our eyes on the ball. The phenomenon of the intelligent ignorant can only be defeated through the power of numbers. These people almost always vote. So we need to beat them by playing the numbers game. Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote in many states across the country. Let us conduct a phonebanking marathon, and make a powerful and sustained push all across the country to get as many voters registered as possible in the final stretch. Leave no stone unturned. Let us persuade as many people as we can to vote early. And let us be vigilant in ensuring that those early votes do not vanish into thin air, as they well might.
Barack Obama has the momentum. It is up to us to make sure it stays that way. Donate to the Obama campaign. Because believe me, he will need every cent this coming month. And if you are maxed out, persuade others to do the same. Good night and good luck, and to those of you who are already actively helping in your own small way, keep up the good work!