I live in North Georgia, and we're one of the very few residents riding around with Kerry / Edwards stickers on our cars. Pretty much all of our friends are Republican voters.
In my conversations - and I've had a lot of them - I've noticed that there are two very different types of Republicans down here:
- The Christian Conservative movement types, and
- A more Western style pseudo-libertarian flavor
Ok, fuck category (1) - I've got nothing in common with those Taliban types...
But (2) is very interesting.
Just yesterday, we were at the playground with a friend, and our exchange went something like:
Him: "you know, if Democrats weren't so adamant about gun control, and if they didn't hate the military, I'd vote that way."
Me: "But what about abortion, and all that?"
Him: "That's all settled; there are a bunch of us Republicans who really don't care about that stuff - contrary to all the yelling"
Me: "But Democrats are NOT anti-military... We may protest the civilian-side policy on how to use it - which we're obligated to do, since we vote for those guys... But as far as respecting the military as an institution, we're all PRO-military... It's Dems who push for pay increases in Congress... And it's Republicans who kill those ideas to protect tax cuts... Republicans might be pro-WAR, and pro- the business of WAR, but I don't see much evidence that they act in a way to help troops' families... "
Him: "But all that protesting...."
Me: "Evan Bayh in Indiana proposed legislation to eliminate the patriot penalty...Essentially, he wants to pad lost pay when reservists take cuts after getting placed on active duty.... How is that not PRO-military????"
Him: "Yeah, but that's the exception... Most Dems hate the military...and you know that they ultimately want to get rid of guns... "
Me: "I'm pro-gun rights, and I think you'll find a lot of classical liberal democrats who feel the same way... out West, Dems are very pro-gun rights, as well..."
Ok, the conversation was nowhere near this clean, but I'm allowed to polish it up a bit for the KOS screenplay :)
But here's the thing: We are failing miserably in our efforts to debunk the military and gun myths...
Yes, talk radio down here makes it uphill, but I'm telling you: there are potentially a lot of DEMOCRATIC votes in the red states... Howard Dean has the right idea, but what the hell can we further do on these two issues? .. .IMO, they're critical to making the 50-state strategy work...
Thanks...