The Last Chance Democracy Cafe

Dear Winston:

I’m just beside myself! My daughter, who turned 18 earlier this month, registered to vote for the first time today — as a Republican!

Members of my family have been straight ticket voting Democrats for over three generations. And now this!! Oh, the shame, the shame!!

Winston, whatever am I to do?!

Signed,

Distraught in Detroit

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Dear Distraught,

First things first: You should congratulate yourself on raising a child capable of independent thought. After all, few liberals embrace the “beat ‘em into submission” parenting “punditry” of rightwing guru James Dobson. Certainly, we discipline our kids when necessary, and try to give them good values. But at the end of the day, most of us follow the teaching of The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children. They are the life’s longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.

So, if your daughter does become a life long Republican (don’t give up hope that she may yet come to her senses), you should respect her decision.

But, do be sure to be a “bad influence” on the grandkids!

Sincerely,

Winston.

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Dear Winston:

Two nights ago I caught my boyfriend using my computer. I think he was posting on a discussion board, but judging by how quickly he shut down when he saw me coming, he clearly didn’t want me to see which one. I’m terrified that it may have been Free Republic.

Winston, my boyfriend is a blue-eyed dreamboat, and I’ve even been thinking lately that maybe, just maybe, he could be The One. But Freepers weird me out — and I just don’t see how I could ever date, let alone marry, one.

Oh, Winston, whatever will I do?

Signed,

Frantic in Fresno

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Dear Frantic,

The terms dreamboat and Freeper are mutually exclusive. No one person can be both. So, assuming your description of your boyfriend as a dreamboat is correct, then, by definition, he cannot be a Freeper.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about. He’s probably just visiting Internet porn sites.

Sincerely,

Winston

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Dear Winston:

My son’s school offers a choice of traditional full sex education or abstinence-only sex education. Which should his mother and I choose?

Signed

Perplexed in Pittsburgh

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Dear Perplexed,

Around here we have a name for people who place all of their kids’ sex education eggs into the abstinence-only basket — grandparents.

Guide yourself accordingly.

Sincerely,

Winston

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Dear Winston,

Instead of just bellyaching all the time, why don’t you Democrats ever talk about all of the good things President Bush has done?

Signed,

Pissed Off in Peoria

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Dear Pissed Off,

For pretty much the same reason we never talk about all the good things the Bubonic Plague has done.

Sincerely,

Winston

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Dear Winston,

I know that you were something of a rounder in your youth. I’m wondering what your current viewpoint is on the subject of sexual morality?

Signed,

Curious in Connecticut

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Dear Curious,

My opinion on premarital and extramarital sex is almost identical to the view held by much of the Republican leadership in Congress. I strongly favor abstinence until marriage for those women I’m not cheating on my wife with (actually I’m currently unmarried, but you get the idea).

Sincerely,

Winston

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Dear Winston,

I’ve been feeling down lately, Winston — really down. It just doesn’t seem like justice exists anymore: Bush lies to start an unnecessary war, causing the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent people, yet, he’s voted back into office. He pushes through one huge tax giveaway after another to the extremely wealthy, while all the while cutting back support for poor and working class people. Poor kids go without food, shelter and medical care, so the super-rich can pile up an even bigger share of the nation’s wealth.

When Bush stole the election in 2000, I guess I was naïve, but I figured there’d be hell to pay in 2002. Instead, the Republicans won big. Come 2004, with everything that was going wrong, from Iraq to lost jobs to ever increasing budget deficits, I thought that surely, at long last, the day of reckoning had finally arrived. Fat chance, huh?

Well, the truth is that these days I’ve pretty much given up. The political alliance of greed and zealotry that makes up today’s Republican Party is just so powerful. And the stronger these forces become, the further America seems to move away form its true greatness.

I don’t know, Winston. Maybe America’s best days really are behind her.

Signed,

Sad in St. Louis

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Dear Sad,

The sad truth is that I often feel pretty much the same way you do — like giving up. Fuck it, I’ll tell myself. I’m 74-years-old: I don’t need this shit anymore. If Americans can’t see these bastards for who they are, then the hell with them. I’m done. I’ve put in my time. Who knows: Maybe I can finally develop a taste for shuffleboard!

But the thing is . . .

What I know beyond any doubt is . . .

None of this gloom and doom is true. At least not over the long haul, because . . .

Well, how could I ever say it better than Gandhi?

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.

This fight’s not ours to surrender. Those of us living today didn’t invent democracy, or freedom of conscience, or even the social contract reflected by the New Deal. These were gifts handed to us lovingly by those who came before. And they were given to us in trust, subject to an irrevocable duty that we pass them on as well.

So, I understand your depression. But get over it. Surrender, as the man said, isn’t an option.

Sincerely,

Winston

This entry was posted by Winston on Monday, January 30th, 2006 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Ask Winston. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.