So, I met
a Trump supporter on my front porch today. She was a very sweet woman who was "taking a poll" in the neighborhood about voters' positions. She apologized for "being kind of new to this" as she brought up the poll questions on her smartphone and prepared to enter our responses. Of course, this exchange was inevitably going to evole into a back-and-forth as we expounded upon our positions, and I have to admire this woman for her willingness to be philosophically barraged on our front porch as she maintained a positive demeanor and tried to articulate just why she is supporting an incredibly unqualified and "dangerous" candidate for the highest office in the land.
I guess the scariest part was the
naivety, ignorance, and unfounded fear that this seemingly well- educated and reasonably well-off woman displayed. For example, when she asked if I wanted "a
change in the direction of the country," and the policies of the current administration, and I said no, she seemed genuinely shocked, as if it were a basic fact that the country is in bad shape. So, I explained: "Look at us: two middle class suburban white people in a
community with great homes and rising property values, almost no crime, and one of the
top schools in the country. The stock market is booming, gas is
$2.00/gal, unemployment is way down, jobs are growing, and my health
care premiums are increasing at their slowest rate since 2000. What's
wrong with that?" Her blank stare was the only answer she had.
It was ... somewhat pathetic. And, as we proceded to discuss the "issues" that had her so concerned about the "state of the nation," it became glaringly obvious that she had almost no reasons, facts, or justifications for why she felt as she did. Those details are probably worth discussing in a later post. But, suffice it to say, she wasn't thrilled by my positions, nor swayed by my evidence. And, sadly, I couldn't convince her to consider supporting Gary Johnson. Oh, well. So goes the country.
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