I'm sure we all have friends and/or relatives who do not agree with us politically.
And, in the current hyper-polarized political environment, we all deal with that carefully, in order to preserve important relationships.
I've tried to do that, and mostly succeeded.
But one failure in that regard is really remarkable -- a guy I've known since kindergarten, and kept in touch with over three decades or so since he moved away, who is no longer my friend because he's a teabagger.
I could deal if he were a hedge fund manager, a plastic surgeon, or a Fox News anchor.
But he's a non-tenured semi-professor at a state university, in my state.
Somewhat supported by the taxes I'm paying.
Why that's FUBAR, below.
My friend (let's call him JD) has been dependent on or employed by, in one way or another, the government for most of his life.
JD did two years at a New York public college, then got his BA at a private college.
JD enrolled in ROTC there, largely for the $100 a month in beer money.
After he graduated, JD was in the Air Force for a few months, until he talked his way out of his commitment. He was training to be a missile launch officer, and claimed that he could not push the button due to religious conviction.
It was all BS -- JD is thoroughly irreligious -- but the Air Force bought it and let him go.
He got married soon after and moved to California, where his wife, a nurse, essentially supported him for more than a decade, in part funded by government support of health care.
In the late-1980s, JD got his act together -- started writing poetry and earned a master's from a public university in Oregon. He taught at a public community college there for a few years, then landed a non-tenure-track gig at a State University of New York school.
He's evidently good at what he does, so at least taxpayer dollars and students' tuitions are not being wasted on him.
In the eight years or so since he moved back east, we've gotten together less than once a year, though he lives just four hours or so away.
For the last few years, we've talked about getting together for a day in New York City. And in November, it seemed like it would finally happen.
I and another lifelong friend had arranged to meet JD in NYC on a Saturday. We bought train tickets, and on Thursday, we got this e-mail from our "friend":
An opportunity from colleagues at work has just presented itself. I just got the call. Here comes one big bone.
Sorry guys, but I am getting my academically pretentious arse carted down to DC for the weekend. You should know, in the spirit of my forefathers...I have been active in the Tea Party Express lately, (attended the rally in Bridgeport not long ago) and I am going with the only other conservatives in my department to Capitol Hill tomorrow.
They're driving so I can't resist. I know we're a day late, but there has been a call to surround the Capitol for two more days. It's the least I can do and something I just have to do, as I am becoming more of a participant in the revolution to take back our country from the statists.
I just have to go as there has been a call to storm the hill right through Saturday, and I owe it to my masonic ancestors (and the great insurance coverage I have:).
KILL THE BILL!!
Blessed are the Children, for They Shall Inherit the National Debt.
He added that he hoped we would understand. My e-mail reply was our last communication:
Well, I do not understand boning lifelong friends on short notice so you can attend a Beck/Bircher event.
But that's just me.
JD was responding to a plea from rabble-rousers Steve King and Michele Bachmann "to literally surround the Capitol and to make a lot of noise doing it."
This was one of many such URGENT pleas from the Republican teabagger leadership to come to Washington to stop "Obamacare" -- evidently so few teabaggers showed up that Saturday that it's difficult to find any media report of the event.
In a way, I wish we had gotten together over a few beers to argue about the teabagger thing before the friendship ended.
I would have liked to hear his response to my arguments that he's done quite well for himself working for a "statist" public university; that he only has decent health insurance due to a union contract with that university; that Obama/Democratic policies have benefited him personally, including tax cuts, stimulus support for public education, and, most egregiously, his cashing in on Cash for Clunkers.
Maybe he'll read about it here.
I suppose I should have seen JD's teabagging coming. He's white, he's always been a Republican, and he's always been incredibly selfish, which are the essential characteristics of teabaggers.