... and looking around Thornblade precinct, where I voted, that is a damned scary thought.
I was undoubtedly the poorest person there. Despite the fact that my apartment complex is part of the precinct and is mostly composed of minorities, there were ONLY whites at the polling place during the half-hour or so I was there. Hm, interesting.
Update: During FALL FOR GREENVILLE, I decided I would park at St Mary's. And to avoid getting towed, I hung an old brown rosary from my rear-view mirror. And miraculously, all the vicious road-rage incidents directed at my lefty bumpers stickers, magically STOPPED. TOTALLY. NOT A SINGLE ONE SINCE. South Carolina boy said it was a great idea, when I showed him. And he also agreed: my eye-catching jumble of bumper stickers was risky business in these parts... and I admit, I let the whole thing get out of hand: Another Mama for Obama (which I refuse to scrub off, even when I am mad at him); Vegetarianism is good for the planet; Peace now; Spay or neuter your cat; Grateful Dead; WNCW; etc etc. Some pretty radical stuff for DeMint country!
But the rosary trumps it ALL. The rosary is a TALISMAN to ward off right-wing thugs. Once again, the Blessed Mother protects me. As she always has!
Good Lord, why didn't I think of this before?!? -- clearly, I wasn't thinking.
Today at the polling place, though, the rosary almost didn't save me... my little bumper-sticker-festooned-Saturn was hemmed in by two different Mercedes--one black, one gray--with the black one bearing a giant, triumphant DeMint sticker. (Just perfect, I thought.) It took me some fancy maneuvering to inch my way out of my parking spot on Thornblade Boulevard, but I managed not to scrape their precious pricey vehicles. Yeesh.
First, I took the opportunity to do some last-minute windshield-leafletting for Tom Clements. (Yes, I was at least 100 feet from the parking lot; I know the rules!) One affluent, designer-clothes-clad woman pointedly declined my leaflet and snapped "Our minds are made up!" (speaking for her companion) and I have no doubts about that at all.
I got inside, where my conservative chiropractor friend was standing in line to vote. Being a friend, he is tolerant and good-natured, and joked that our votes would cancel each other's out. (The rest of the room, intolerant and NOT good-natured, glowered at me.) He also joked we should take our pictures voting and holding hands and post it on Facebook, to show democratic-system-goodwill and all that patriotic voter-stuff. (More glowering in my general direction; I could tell the rest of the room didn't believe in that shit AT ALL.)
And the Haley/DeMint stickers and signs, blinded me all the way back home.
Pertinent quote of the day:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.Stay tuned, sports fans. I'll try to be back by tonight and I will try not to sob TOO hard...
HL Mencken
