Most all of us have seen the story on Facebook or had it forwarded to us, about the liberal young woman returning from her first year of college challenging her Republican father, who shows her the error of her ways by pointing out she would not be in favor of equal distribution of hard-earned gains by giving her 2.0 GPA lazy friend Audrey a point or two off of her 4.0 GPA. It ends with “Welcome to the Republican Party.” Exhibit A: welcometotherepublicanparty.tumblr.com
Incensed with so many of the false assumptions and logical fallacies, I decided to modify the story to fit the situation so many of my students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds really encounter:
A young woman was about to finish her last year of college before hopefully landing a job as a teacher. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat and favored a more equitable tax system.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she was surprised that her lower-middle class father would vote against his economic interests.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.
She answered that she had worked very hard to get a 4.0 GPA, in spite of working nearly 40 hours a week waitressing in order to pay for school because her father was unable to contribute anything toward her schooling. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?” She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, hasn’t worked a day in her life at a job and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is always going to parties, dressed to the nines, and frequently misses classes the next day because she is hung over.”
Her wise father patted his daughter’s arm and said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure reality will hit when she graduates, and she will have to take personal responsibility for her lack of hard work. She’ll surely struggle to get a job because of her low GPA, and she no doubt will have a mountain of debt to pay back.”
The daughter, far from assuaged by her father’s naïve assumption that America is a true meritocracy, angrily fired back, “She has no debt because her parents pay for her living expenses and tuition. Heck, the mortgage deduction on their second home and the money they save on the low 15% capital gains tax on their stock market portfolio is enough to pay Audrey’s bills. And, she already has a $60,000 job lined up working for a friend of her father who golfs with him at the country club.”
Her father, who barely made ends meet doing manual labor, exclaimed, “That isn’t fair! You have worked really hard for your grades, invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree but she’s got a job and will be making twice as much money as you?
The daughter slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Democratic Party.”
