Back when Steve Martin was doing stand up, he had a bit where he’d confront a heckler from the audience. He’d respond to the person giving him a hard time by saying, “Yeah, I remember when I had my first beer…” For some reason that reminds me of what I’m saying about my 18-year-old daughter… “Yeah, I remember when I had my first vote…” My daughter, Nicole, is 18 years old and has the opportunity in her first election to vote for our next president. My first opportunity came in 1980 when I was 21 years old.
At the time I voted like anyone in my shoes would have voted. I was the son of two Democratic public schoolteachers, had grown up in Marin, and at the time was living in Los Angeles, working in the movie business. Of course I voted for Jimmy Carter. Only those selfish-racist-evil Republicans voted for Ronald Regan. (This is one of my two biggest votes I’d like to take back. The other was voting for Barbara Boxer)
Nicole’s upbringing in our house was less conventional that was mine when I was a teenager in Marin, circa late 1970s. I was spoon fed all the liberal feel-good nonsense by the public schools, my parents, and all media. Talk radio at the time was not even on my radar as an option for alternative thought. There was only one way to think – like a "progressive."
Nicole has had a different path to her first election. First, she was raised in a religious home by my Mexican-Catholic wife. Second, she saw her father evolve from a 35-year-old liberal to a 53-year-old conservative. She truly has seen “both sides of the coin.”
She tells me she’s not sure who to vote for. There are things she likes about both candidates and things she does not like about both. She’s not yet an ideologue like her father or grandparents, so is a true swing voter-independent-Libertarian.
To Nicole, it’s no secret who her dad will vote for. Her mom is not yet a U.S. citizen, so Mrs. Amyx has no vote. I’ve also told Nicole on more than one occasion that I will respect her and love her just the same no matter who she votes for. That doesn’t however take away the fact that I have tried my best to inform her on the benefits of voting a predominantly Republican ticket. My advice to her, as an undecided voter, is that when in doubt, vote with your MIND, and avoid voting with your heart. Just like our old buddy Winston Churchill (as the story goes) said, “If you’re 20 years old and aren’t a Liberal, you don’t have a heart. If you’re 40 years old and not a conservative, you don’t have a brain…”
I’m guessing Nicole’s heart will be bigger than her brain at 20, and if I’m still around when she’s 40, it might see a different story.
The first would be that Republicans are heartless. Certainly we can find many examples of this. While Republicans like to boast about their strong Christian credentials, their policies do the opposite of “whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” The Ryan budget plan disproportionately cuts taxes for the wealthy and severely cuts government services for the “least of my brothers.” The second corollary is that Democrats are brainless. Here Nicole is where your dad crosses the line can effectively calls many of his neighbors stupid for voting for Democrats. We can debate the merits of policy choices, but certainly calling names doesn’t solve problems and bring people together. Tim’s column last week blasted Obama for not seeking a more bipartisan path. Once again, Tim proves that Republicans, by their name calling, really are not interested in any form of compromise. The Republicans in Congress have become the party of no. Perhaps after Obama’s reelection, we can hope that Republicans stop vilifying Obama and become a party more interested in governing for the betterment of the people, and follow the recent examples of their fellow Republicans Bloomberg, Powell, and Christie.