BLUE DOTS IN A RED STATE

After being under the weather from some stomach virus this week, I decided to venture out to the tiny town nearby for a pedicure.  It's a small town with about 8 businesses on the main road, with the rest of the city composed of a variety of modest houses, including trailer houses.  It's home to primarily blue-collar workers and retirees.

I didn't even think about what I was wearing as I entered the room for a pedicure until this older woman smiled as I sat down.  She whispered, "I like your shirt.  I would have gone, but I was ill at the time."  My tee shirt had Women's March on Washington---Texas, with the date of the march emblazoned.

The whispering was due to the enormous numbers of Republican residents living in the Texas Hill Country.  Those not supporting Trump or the Republican agenda are fearful of saying anything.

There are different types of Republicans living in this state, clearly represented within a 10-mile radius of my home.

My hometown contains some of the wealthiest people in the state.  They have multi-million dollar homes on the shores of the lake.  These are their second or third homes.  Their primary homes are located in Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas.  Most of them have consistently voted Republican because they do not want to pay taxes at the same rate the rest of us pay.  Trump stated that people would vote for him even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue.  That's one of the few times he's told the truth.  So, they voted for Trump because he was on the Republican ticket.  They do not want their taxes to be used for 'welfare' programs.  I call them the Wealthy Republicans.

The tiny town closest to mine contains quite a few Redneck Republicans.  They fully support Trump because he represents them with his swagger, crudeness, and tough talk.   They genuinely believe he would 'drain the swamp' as they have grown tired of seeing the elite on both sides governs our country.  They didn't want to see Wall Street continue to grow richer, get bailouts, and buy our elected officials.  They are also intimidated by the intellectual elite, which has caused them to hate them more than anything.  Hillary's comment about 'deplorable's' enraged them.  Plus, she's a woman.  Rednecks want women barefoot and pregnant.  They want their dinner ready when they get home, and the woman prepared for them in bed when night falls.  And...they'll be the first to tell you about Fake News and how they are demonizing Trump, yet ignoring that most news organizations are only reporting on actions he's taking, his tweets, and his daily bizarre behavior.  If he kept his mouth shut and stayed off of Twitter, the news stories about him would be dramatically reduced.  As ignorant and out-of-touch as he seems, Trump knows there would be very little coverage of him if he started acting like a decent human being.  That's why he will continue.

In small towns in Texas, your church and school often comprise your social life. As you travel down the road near my community, you eventually enter a town of about 3500 people.  There are numerous churches in the city. There are a couple of mega-churches in this town and quite a few Southern Baptist churches.  The congregants in many of those churches are what I call Evangelical Republicans.  Many believe that God sent Trump to be our President despite the vileness spewing from his mouth about women, those with disabilities, war heroes, Muslims, Mexicans, and the list goes on...  Many of them wanted a Republican to win because of their anti-abortion stand.  They knew a Republican-appointed Supreme Court justice would favor Roe v Wade being overturned.  Of course, these same people do not support 'welfare' programs for babies born who might be disabled or disadvantaged.  Go figure.

There's another group that isn't easily identified because they are reticent.  They voted for Trump and the Republican ticket because that's what they've always done.  They need to be more well-versed on the issues and may rely entirely on Fox News for their information.  They don't read much and have never learned critical thinking skills, partly because most never went to college.  I call them the Uninformed Republicans.  Several decades ago, they probably voted Democrat because that was the majority in Texas.  They go along to get along.

You would miss something if you didn't hear the rumble from under the surface.  Women like the woman I met yesterday are coming out of the woodwork in opposition to the current state of political affairs. They knew how corrupt Trump was, were deeply offended by his misogynistic remarks, and are getting a daily dose of his sociopathic and self-serving behavior.  They cannot be silent any longer. They have grown by a third just since November 8! I joined the local Democratic women's organization when I moved here 7 months ago and thought I was one of the few blue dots in a Red State.

Some Republican voters are embarrassed that they voted for a man like Trump.  They are the Silent Republicans.  They won't defend him and won't admit they voted for him. They might have been saying, 'give him a chance' right after the election, but they aren't saying it anymore. They don't want to admit that they were duped.  I can't predict if they'll totally come to the other side, but I do believe that if he's still around, they won't vote for him again.

Until the Democrats realize that we must find common ground with those who voted Republican, we aren't going anywhere. We cannot continue supporting candidates beholden to their campaign contributors, then hold office for decades.  No matter the political affiliation,  most of us don't want a government run by Big Oil, insurance companies, Wall Street, wealthy contributors, lobbyists, and the military complex.  We want term limits and campaign reform.  We want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.