Today I had lunch with my grandfather who was diagnosed with Lung Cancer 7 months ago. At the time he was given 6 months to live(he is very proud to have proven the doctors wrong)
Lunch was great. I was completely in the moment, enjoying time with my grandfather when the topic of his disease came up and all of the bills that he has. He began the saga with the phrase "Well I like Bush, but on health care he really screwed up." I agreed with him, but was intrigued that he was brave enough, it seemed to me, to admit in this age of sagging poll numbers that he liked Bush.
Upon further investigating I found that my grandfather would have voted(if he voted) for Bush because he "liked the guy" he said "I couldn't stand Gore....he is an arrogant Son of a .......) " When I pressed further for what lead him to this conclusion he stated that he saw him(gore) on tv and concluded that Bush was down to earth and all around a great guy. I was aghast! I asked if my grandfather had done any research on either of the candidates lives prior to being a candidate and he responded that he didn't. He then proceeded to tell me that he not only agrees with the war in Iraq but he feels that the president had more information than all of us so we should trust him. And finally, after an hour of conversation he admitted to me that there is nothing that any of us can do to change the fate of our country. At this I was completely flabbergasted! He mentioned to me that he believed(and I'm not saying that he is wrong) that because of the electoral college our votes don't count anyway. He then concluded "they have us right where they want us-there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it"
I wondered just how many people in our state and country feel this way. Could this be why more people in America vote on American Idol than for our president?
Or is it because they don't feel that it matters to them? or is it because you have to leave your house, wait in a line and vote for our elected officials, or is it really, in the end because they truly believe that their vote doesn't count?
We stopped talking about politics after that(you know the old saying; things never to talk about: money politics and religion) but his words still echo in my mind:
"they have us right where they want us-there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it"
