by Thomas Craig
Last night I attended a Young Republicans meeting and of course the discussion revolved around politics. I soon found myself engaged in a conversation, not about specific policies or complaints about Pres. Obama, but why so many people who claim to not know much about politics identify themselves as Democrats. Obviously there were plenty of statements along the lines of just writing them off to being stupid. I would not go so far as to call them stupid, but certainly ignorant of the issues. To several people's amazement, however, I was in fact defending these ignorant liberals or "ignor-iberals" as I call them. You see, Thomas Jefferson put it best when he said "He who would steal from Peter to pay Paul, will always have the support of Paul." That in a nutshell is the problem with "ignor-iberals". When you take someone who is politically ignorant, and you boil down the issues into a ridiculously childish premise, you walk away with a simple statement. "Democrats want to take money from greedy corporations and heartless rich people, and they want to give that money to you." Wow, what a tremendous theory! I can completely understand why so many people are for that. Who wouldn't want free money? In our group was a young lady who admitted that she was in fact an "ignor-iberal" (she didn't put it like that though). She confessed to us that she has in fact always referred to herself as a Democrat or at best an Independent (she was there with her Republican friend). Several people began lecturing and belittling her on her statements. Is that how we are going to educate people? I'm sure all that was going through her mind was a confirmation of the ugly reputations of the greedy and heartless Republican. I approached her and was as kind as could be. Perhaps nobody ever took the time to break down some of the issues with her and listen to her questions (not even her Republican friend who she was there with). I carefully explained the fundamentals of trickle down economics to her and she listened intently. When I finished, her exact words were, "I actually never saw it that way." She was not stupid and just like most people, when they are presented with an argument based on logic and reason, they are open to it. Will I see her at the next Young Republican meeting? Who knows? At least I contributed a small part to opening her eyes about the Country she lives in. Now, imagine if all of us did the same when we meet "ignor-iberals". What a Party we would have!
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