That was called out to me on the day we voted.
There's more to the story.
I was juiced Monday after voting. Hollywood, Florida's early voting was well run with no intimidation, no hostile poll watchers. We were joking about how Marco Rubio induces a gag reflex in me when a woman called from her car and asked if we had just voted.
Young Circle in Hollywood is pretty big, so I went over to show her where the voting polls were. I told her there was no waiting. That it isn't like 2008 when the line wrapped around the library. Then I said the wrong thing, "There's no Obama on the ballot, so there's fewer people."
"Oh, I don't like Obama, he's a socialist."
I heard Chibi mumble, "Oh, here we go," and she was right. I wasn't going to let her get away with that.
I looked her in the eye, "No, President Obama is a member of the Democratic Party and he's more centrist these days than when he was a Senator. He is not a socialist. The only socialist is Bernie Sanders of Vermont."
The woman was driving a new Lexus, she was older and was dressed conservatively, "He's a socialist. You can hear it in how he talks. He reminds me of Castro when I was a little girl. He's bad for the country."
I shook my head, "You're talking about charisma. That isn't socialism. With that standard, Sarah Palin and George Bush are socialists too."
She shook her head, "No Obama wants to take over the country. He wants the government to own everything. He's a communist. You hear it whenever he speaks."
Intrigued I leaned in, "How could he do that? He'd have to get the House, Senate and Supreme Court to agree to it. What exactly, has President Obama said that makes you believe this?"
No surprise, she couldn't answer my question, "Obama is just like Castro. You're younger that I. I remember 1959. Hearing Castro. He was going to solve everything. He ruined Cuba! Obama wants to do the same thing. Obama wants America to become socialist. I don't want to live in a communist country. I lived in a communist country. I don't like it. You wouldn't either."
Ok, I know you can't argue with a nut case or an exiled Cuban, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying. "Wait a minute. First, you're comparing Totalitarian Cuba to the United States. The problem is that Cuba isn't a communist country so much as it is a dictatorship, in a totalitarian state. A true communist country doesn't exist. We have charlatans like China and Cuba, but no real deals. You still haven't told me, what has President Obama said that leads you to believe that he wants to take over everything and what makes you believe 223 house members, 60 scrappy Senators, 5 cranky Supreme Court justices plus the Joint Chiefs of Staff will allow it?"
Neatly sidestepping the hurdle, she replied, "Totalitarian? I don't know this word. Cuba is Communist. That's what I don't want and that's what Obama is."
Ok, President Obama has gone from socialist to communist in about 90 seconds, not good enough to beat the world record. I was surprised to see Chibi was still beside me, she had it almost by rote, "Cuba is Totalitarian. A Totalitarian State is when a country tries to control every aspect of people's life, people who demand personal freedoms are considered unpatriotic. Cuba has too few resources. The government needs to justify rationing in a way the average person agrees with. A totalitarian state can deny access to housing, jobs or whatever by punishing people for anything the government says is wrong. That works because the government declares anyone who complains to be unpatriotic. That's what Cuba does, totalitarianism. "
Well, I could see the lady was suffering from TMI. "Cuba is communist! I don't know this totalitarian." I could see she had never read Animal Farm, or if she did, she didn't get a couple of the finer points.
I shook my head, "No, Cuba is a totalitarian state. Fidel Castro and his brother Raul are in effect, dictators. True communism requires selflessness to exist and to make it work. If anything, it's the Republican Party that wants to control every aspect of people's lives. Think about it. Rick Scott, the candidate for governor, wants people on welfare to pass drug tests. He's promoting a totalitarian principle. If the welfare person doesn't like it, then they are soft on drugs or don't do enough to prevent child abuse. Rick Scott wants to control welfare recipients not help them."
I have to give her credit, she wasn't comfortable with where I was going with the argument. Her best move was to change the subject. "Healthcare, that bill is a disaster. I've lived in Europe and the health care is awful there," and with that she walked right into my home court.
I sighed, "Well, I think Stephen Hawking might disagree with you. He's been cared for by the NHS for years."
"Who is Stephan Hawking?"
That gave me a clearer picture of who I was talking to, "He's a world renown theoretical physicist who has a Motor Neurone Disease. He loses more mobility every year and is confined to a wheel chair and is only able to communicate by manipulating a computer with a mouth straw. In that condition he's written several best selling books on physics. According to you, he should be dead; but he's quite alive, courtesy of England's National Health Service."
"That isn't my experience in Europe. Having the government take over health care is a mistake. I don't want the government to decide my health care. You don't want the government deciding these things. I don't want Obamacare."
I shrugged, "I don't see the big change. There's a couple good things, like getting rid of preexisting conditions and you can keep your kid on your policy until they're 26; but the main structure is the same. We still pay twice as much for a system that excludes 25% of our people from participating in it. You still get to make your choices. You can still pay your private health insurance company an extra 20% over the cost of your medical care to make decisions about what health care you receive. Private health insurers retained their ability to have their private death panels that ration your health care and the U.S. overall still rations health care on your ability to pay for it. If you don't have the money to see a doctor, get a test or buy a drug, you are invited to suffer and die. I think we can do better."
That struck home. She didn't know what to say. She was struggling to find something to defend her health care position.
I took pity, "Look, we're not likely to agree, but there's plenty of time for you to vote today." That killed me, but I do live in a democracy and she has every right to vote her opinion.
I was amazed when she said, "Oh no, I'm not voting today."
That took me back, but to each their own. "Oh, ok. I must be going. Good evening."
So, I was a little surprised when she called out as I was leaving,
"I hate Democrats!"
I think I'm going to take that as a compliment.