Thursday, May 01, 2008
Moving from left to right
John Long
Recent columns
One thing I've enjoyed about column writing is getting in touch with some old friends. Folks I haven't seen in years will run across a column, usually online, and drop me a message. So I was delighted to get Mary's e-mail a few weeks ago.
Mary and I went to high school together back about the 11th century. Now, I was the quintessential Reagan Youth, as were most of the rest of our gang. But Mary was the sole, diehard Democrat in our little circle, and took a lot of good-natured ribbing about it. I lost track of Mary after we went to different colleges, but learned in her e-mail that she is now married with two kids and living in California.
As we caught up electronically, I joked about using this column occasionally "to spread the conservative propaganda that used to bug you so much." Her response surprised me: Since high school she's moved so far right that her husband calls her Ann Coulter.
I replied with a paraphrase of Winston Churchill's quip that someone who is not a liberal at 20 has no heart, but someone who isn't a conservative at 40 has no head. (Don't blame me -- Churchill said it!) But how, I asked, could she stand life on the "left coast"?
I really didn't expect the passion expressed in her answer, but it got me thinking about the frustrations a lot of average folks feel with modern American politics.
"How do I like the left coast?" Mary wrote. "Well, I have a love/hate relationship with California. I love the weather, I love the scenery, and the people here are very casual and down to earth for the most part ... we live in a somewhat conservative part of the state, or at least conservative by California standards. I dislike the politics. I dislike the fact that our beautiful community has been invaded by illegal aliens, and no one can do anything about it. I am not happy that it has become so expensive that the middle-class families can no longer afford to live here. I hate that we are forced to pay top dollar in taxes for any social program a politician can dream up, and I notice that as a result, there is no incentive to succeed just so successful families can give their hard-earned money away to deadbeats who don't want to work.
"I do not like the fact that it is so acceptable for unwed teenagers to have babies in our community. I dislike being a minority because I speak English ... I don't like for my tax dollars to be spent accommodating those who refuse to learn English, and I do not like the 'anchor baby' laws that help the problem here spiral out of control. I do not enjoy being called a 'racist' because I expect our country's laws to be enforced."
And all this from someone who not long ago cast her first ballot for Dukakis!
I won't take the space to dissect all of Mary's commentary. It's not even really relevant the extent to which you or I agree, not being Californians. I won't go so far as to say hers is a majority opinion, but I guarantee a lot of readers shouted "Amen, sister!" to her viewpoints.
But what interested me more than the specifics she cited was the underlying frustration she expressed. There are a lot of Marys out there. You know who you are: You want your tax dollars spent wisely, you want laws upheld, you want the world better for your kids, but in some ways you want it the same world you knew at their age.
You may agree or disagree with Mary's thoughts on immigration or welfare, but, like her, you don't think your voice is being heard by the powers that be, and if you express an opinion, you feel demonized for straying from contemporary orthodoxy.
There are Marys on the left, but more of you are on the right.
Dr. Thomas Sowell could have been thinking of Mary when he recently observed "Most people on the right have no problem understanding people on the left because many, if not most, were on the left themselves when they were younger. But many, if not most, people on the left find it inexplicable how any decent and intelligent person could be on the right."
A final note to Mary, if you're reading: Consider moving.
Long, a Roanoke Times columnist, is director of the Salem Museum and teaches history at Roanoke College.
