I just returned from a visit home to see my elderly parents on their 61st wedding anniversary. I won't pretend it wasn't a very difficult five days. My mother is an end-stage ASL patient and will be leaving us by Christmas. My father will follow within a few months, as he has a very bad heart and asbestosis. Mom is 81 and Dad is 84. Between the two of them, they have seen a lot of history in this nation.
Mom and Dad are Republicans, all the way. They live in a small, very Conservative (yes, with a capital C,) town with more churches than gas stations and they love it. I was born more than 50 years ago, with a wide Liberal stripe from the first moment I could speak, which meant a great deal of conflict in our home for many years, lol. It always seemed that no matter what the issue, no matter who the candidate, my parents and I were on opposite sides. As I became older and more mature, we tended to simply agree to disagree, rather than argue, and that eased some of the tensions a bit. For the most part, we just avoided all topics political in nature so we could avoid the conflict sure to follow.
On this visit, the TV was saturated with political ads, which made it difficult to avoid the subject of the upcoming election on Tuesday. My folks are extremely pro-military and I had no doubt that they would support the War Hero/POW. McCain was a candidate made for people like my parents so I knew better than to ask. Heck, McCain even looks a bit like my Dad. After all, these are the people who voted for Bush, twice, gads.
Dad was watching the news while the anchor talked about more bad financial news and brought up the "R" word, as in Recession. Dad snorted, shook his head, and said "Recession? I lived through the Great Depression, I knew a depression when I see one, and we are beginning one now. All these politicians just keep lying to us about it, they think we're stupid." I hesitated. "I saw your absentee ballot is still in your room. I guess this economy makes it really worth thinking about, more than ever. If you want help filling it out, I can do that and mail it for you." Dad snorted again. "I'm not voting. I'm not going to bother." My jaw dropped.
Dad always votes Republican, true, but Dad ALWAYS votes and, frankly, this will be Dad's last chance to vote, the last election in his life. I would not have believed anything would keep Dad from voting. Dad was born on the 4th of July in 1924. He is the epitome of patriotism. He has a full-sized flag pole in the front yard, with a red, white and blue flower border around it. He studiously follows appropriate flag etiquette about handling, raising, flying the flag, etc. All my life, Dad and Mom would routinely throw about comments like "this is the greatest nation on earth," "thank God we live in the US," "isn't it great that we live free here in the US." Dad fought in Korea, was shot and tore up his knee there. His father lost a hand in WWI in the cavalry, when the cavalry still rode horses. Dad lost a brother in WWII. Dad said it was only because of the blood spilled that we had this freedom, we could never forget that and never take it for granted. That blood was the price we paid for that vote and it could not be wasted by blithely failing to vote. His failing to vote stunned me.
As ill as Dad is, the last thing I wanted to do was agitate him. He is beginning to grieve my mother's imminent passing and doesn't need to argue politics with me; he has plenty on his plate to deal with right now. I sat quietly. After a few moments, he muttered, "those politicians, they're all liars; they lie to us and they lie about each other. And that McCain is a hothead and a liar. And he picked that Palin woman. I don't like her." Mom sat in her wheelchair and nodded in agreement, as best she could.
I left it alone. I don't know, maybe I should have pressed for an Obama vote but under the circumstances, I just couldn't.
Like I said, McCain was a candidate tailor-made for my parents. When he took the nomination, they were pleased and talking about "McCain Country." My parents are the Christian right, low information, straight ticket voters, pro-military, patriotic to the point of almost nationalistic, and Republican to the bone. "My country, right or wrong," "love it or leave it," and "In God we trust," to the very hilt. And in spite of all that, despite being two of the safest votes the Republicans could ever hope to have, McCain lost my parents.
No, this doesn't mean that McCain has lost all his support and base. Mom's friend has "a son in the naval academy so they are voting McCain." (A rationale that confounds me, frankly.) That Conservative small town was depressing to drive through, because of all the McCain/Palin signs in front yards (I only saw two Obama signs, sigh.) McCain still has plenty of support there. But if he could lose the guaranteed votes of my parents because of his foolish pick of Palin, his slime-lies mudbath, and his vile temper, well, I doubt my parents are the only hardcore life-time Republican loyalists that were disgusted and turned off. I'm hoping that next Tuesday they will either mimic my parents or, even better, vote Obama.
The one thing I'm sure of is that McCain had to lose my parents' votes because it had been a sure thing. And lose their votes he did when he lost his own way on the road to the White House. I know, we're only talking about a couple of votes here, but it was the only bright spot in five of the saddest, most difficult days of my life, so I'm clinging to it with as much optimism as I can dredge up and looking forward to Tuesday. I hope a few more hardcore Republicans join my parents, I truly do.