When did things change?
As a little girl growing up in the 1950s, I spent many a Saturday evening on the back patio listening to my father and his friends do the unthinkable ? discuss politics and religion. Our neighborhood included Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics, Agnostics, Baptists, Democrats, Republicans, grandsons of Civil War veterans and recently naturalized immigrants, anxious to vote in the upcoming elections. They discussed all aspects of politics from Eisenhower”s foreign policy with Korea to who was running for the local school board, and religion always got messed up in there somewhere. I learned a lot on those evenings about politics and religion and how many shades of gray existed in these topics. But mostly I noticed how the next day, despite the previous night”s loud and vehement discussions, these same men were still good friends borrowing tools, sharing lawn mowers and swapping jokes.
When did things become so black and white and so narrow? Why are such topics so taboo? Cannot we learn from one another, accept the broad view that someone may have a different take and then perhaps meet in the middle? All of this “my way or the highway” thinking is tearing this country apart.
One of the things that appeals to me about the Tea Party groups is their sense of openness to and acceptance of all. Educating ourselves as voters, finding candidates that reflect our views and sharing that information is what the Tea Party movement promotes.
Our next meeting will have most of the candidates running for supervisor in Districts No. 2 and No. 3 and both candidates running for superintendent of schools coming to speak to us, presenting their views. Everyone is welcome to join us Wednesday, April 28 at Rancho De La Fuente, 2290 Soda Bay Road at 6 p.m.
Jaxan Christensen
Upper Lake
