Hasta La Gadget!

Over the weekend I made a quick trip to Denver. On two separate shared rides, sitting up front for 45 minutes, I had the chance to talk politics with people quite different from me. It reminded me of the value of face-to-face conversation, not making assumptions, and listening without trying to convince.

Driver #1: Seva
Seva graduated from UC-Boulder with a mechanical engineering degree. His American father met his Indian mother in New Delhi as a missionary. Seva was born in India and has lived in the US since he was 5. We first talked about India and some friends I had known: an American woman who married an Indian man and lived there for many years as missionaries. He described India as chaotic, developing, needing so many basic services, and expressed appreciation for the opportunities he has had in the US.

After college Seva worked for a start-up. He was recently laid off when it went out of business. His father worked for GM and has also been laid off. Seva’s biggest concerns with the Presidential election are about the economy and jobs. While the overall unemployment rate is low, it doesn’t feel that way to his family. He’s leaning towards voting for the Republican nominee because he believes that jobs should be the number one focus, and as a successful businessman, he thinks the Republican nominee will create more American jobs.

I asked him what specific Republican policies he thought would make a difference in terms of jobs for him and his father, and he said he “hadn’t really seen any specific policies.” I suggested that might be worth looking into before he made a final decision.

When I asked him how he felt about the statements made by the Republican nominee about immigrants, Seva said he thought “he was only talking about illegal immigration,” not immigrants in general or about his own family.

We talked about the importance of voting and being engaged in the process, and he shared some personal thoughts about how much it means to him to be able to vote.

Driver #2: Ron
Ron is currently driving part-time because he’s a co-founder of a marijuana start-up. They’re selling product wholesale to other dispensaries while they renovate their store, which will open in the fall. Our wide-ranging conversation covered service dogs, guns, medical marijuana, both parties and their nominees, and the importance of voting. Ron is originally from Kentucky, loves Denver, and has many friends back home who are “coming out of the woodwork” to vote for the Republican nominee. When I asked why people who hadn’t voted in the last several Presidential elections were going to vote, Ron said, “Guns. They’re afraid the government is going to take away their guns.”

Ron himself owns multiple legal guns, for which he took gun safety classes. He doesn’t carry them, but sometimes goes to the gun range to shoot. He told me that he does own an assault rifle from the 1960s, which he found in the wall of a house he was flipping in Kentucky. He’s only shot it a few times. He understands the concerns about assault rifles and agrees there is a problem with mass shootings, but he doesn’t feel like the government should have the right to make him surrender guns he owns legally. When I asked him if he thought it was realistic that the government would enact legislation to do that, he said no.

We discussed the seemingly contradictory positions of people we both know–gun owners to police officers–who while concerned at how much more gun violence there is are still not wanting to see more gun control measures enacted.

Ron said that “cities like Chicago have such a high murder rate, and all the criminals have guns, so it doesn’t make sense to limit non-criminals having guns.” I asked him whether he thought someone who wasn’t trained in a stressful combat situation could have any meaningful effect in a situation like Orlando; he said that more guns in Orlando would have simply meant more people would have died, and “you’re not allowed to have guns anywhere that alcohol is sold anyway.”

Ron is more on the fence than Seva, he’s leaning Republican presently. He hasn’t seen enough specifics from that nominee about policies, and he’s concerned about his temperament. He’s also concerned that the Democratic nominee might be too soft militarily, or that “other countries would try to bully her and she wouldn’t stand up to them.”

I suggested that it was hard to picture a Black president until we had one, and now that seems normal. I also mentioned that many other countries had had women in that role, including Germany, the UK, and India. He agreed, and he said he felt the Democratic nominee’s plans and policies were much clearer. He thinks her experience is much stronger to hold that position.

We both fully agreed about the importance of voting and not taking it for granted.

In both cases, I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I think Seva and Ron did too. I realized that I rarely talk to people who are different from me. Engaging in person, instead of virtually, helped me to realize that the stress I feel about politics has to do with me trying to influence other people to think the way that I do without actually talking to them. I’m going to try to do more talking and listening and less convincing between now and November.

Stephanie Weaver, MPH, CWHC is a writer. Her book The Migraine Relief Plan will be published on February 14, 2017 by Agate Surrey. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook to learn more.

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Tonight, Hillary Rodham Clinton will accept the nomination of the Democratic Party as the first woman to ever win the nomination from a major political party. It truly will be a historic and evocative moment, one in which many will reflect on the enormity of this day and what it means to them personally.

I will think of those who went before her, especially Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), who in 1964 became the first woman to be placed in nomination for president by a major party and was voice of conscience during the McCarthy era; and Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm (D-NY), who in 1972 boldly ran as the first African-American and first woman candidate to seek the Democratic nomination.

I will think of Jerry Emmett, the 102-year old Arizona Clinton delegate who was born before woman even had the right to vote; and Dusi Mura (1918-2009), a renowned pianist who survived the Holocaust and Stalin and was gleeful as we watched the 2008 election results together.

I will think of Frances Hughes Glendening, Maryland’s former First Lady, whose office I sat in the morning after Geraldine Ferraro accepted the nomination for vice president in 1984. She was almost tearful as she impressed upon me how big a moment that was. It was true then and is true now.

I will think back to 1992, when Hillary Clinton often subbed for her husband at Washington fundraisers as he fought off primary challenges elsewhere. I recall one in particular, in which future Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, asked her if she would ever run for President. Hillary demurred and repeated the campaign line that you got two for the price of one in electing Bill Clinton. Ambassador Schneider’s question was hardly a fanciful thought, but certainly not something that appeared visible in the present horizon.

I will remember being in New Hampshire in 1992, standing in a circle of young college women who listened in awe as this trailblazing woman talked with them. I will also remember the reporters who walked behind Hillary and said she was ugly within earshot of the entire group and think about all the hatred that has been directed at her – not because of her views or actions but because she dared to be a strong political woman. Like a soldier at The Somme, for two generations Hillary has endured all sorts of attacks and moved steadily forward to this moment.

I will think of my political mentor, Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), the man who gave us Pell Grants. Pell’s motto was “half a loaf could feed an army,” since you build on your initial progress step-by-step. The Pell Grant program began small with only 185,249 recipients and now reaches approximately 10 million recipients each year.

Tonight is certainly a big step forward, but we are not done. For example, we still have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment or provided representation to the men and women of the District of Columbia.

I will think of my late mother, who raised seven kids and stood in the shadows of her husband because that is what women did back then – but not today. I also will think of my older sister Maureen, who taught me at a very early age that a women’s place was wherever she wanted it to be.

And as always, I will think of my late father, a World War II veteran who proudly flew the flag at every holiday. He taught me what a great country this is and that we had to fight for it every day in upholding its ideals.

This day is a testament to hope and perseverance and a day to proudly say “I am a Democrat” and “I am American”. It is a day we tell the world that, beginning with our bold declaration in Philadelphia two centuries ago, the American story has been one of moving forward and tonight America is moving forward with Her.

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