My grandpa is a good man. He’s worked hard his whole life, he votes yes for the school budget, and he’s an avid Yankees fan. But he is human, and we all know humans have faults. Gramps is no different; he has voted republican for a solid portion of his life, and intends to continue this trend. His justification for doing so: rich people aren’t evil, and they shouldn’t be punished.
Now, my grandpa isn’t a dumb man. On the contrary: he’s usually highly logical and reasonable. His justification for voting republican therefore confuses me. Unfortunately, he isn’t alone in thinking the Democratic Party is the party set on punishing the wealthy. This is a common misconception.
However, my grandpa and I were driving on the highway when something happened that would prove to be a perfect way of depicting the two major political parties in America and clearing up my grandpa’s illusion.
I was driving while Gramps was in the passenger seat. We were heading north on the New York Thruway, listening (myself, grudgingly) to Michael Savage. A black Toyota Camry drove a short distance ahead of us, and when my grandpa saw the car he made a miserable noise. I asked what was wrong and he responded, “look at the sticker. Filthy.” I was expecting a Boston Red Sox sticker, but what I saw wasn’t filthy at all, it was a sticker from the 2008 election that read “Obama-Biden.”
And so the bickering-turned-heated contention began.
“Democrats are communists!”
“No, they just think everyone should have a fair chance at a prosperous life.”
“You can’t take rich people’s money, they earned it. We can’t all be equal.”
“We don’t want everyone to be equal, we want everyone to have equal opportunity.”
So on and so forth.
A little while later, we came to a point on the road where the right lane was closed, and we had to merge. Naturally, many of the people in the left lane were hesitant to let the “slow drivers” from the right over into their own lane. When it was my turn to get over to the left, we saw the black Toyota Camry again. With no one too close behind him, the driver slowed down and allowed me to pass. At first, I simply waved to thank him and continued driving; I thought nothing more of the incident.
After some time, the right lane was open again, and I merged back into it. We were driving for about five minutes when a big pick up truck cut us off. I had to literally step hard on the brake and slightly move to my right, into the shoulder. The truck had been passing another car, and as soon as it was physically possible, the driver of the truck got back over into the left lane, cutting off the car the same way he did me. Rather angry, I looked again at the truck. Not so surprisingly, I saw a bumper sticker that read “McCain-Palin.”
Instantly I looked at my grandpa and said “you see?! Of course, the republican would cut everyone off and risk hurting all of us just so he can go even faster, because 85 mph isn’t enough.”
My grandpa laughed and rolled his eyes, as he always does when he knows I have a point.
Now, of course I don’t think every single republican drives the way the man in the truck had, nor do I doubt there are democrats who do so. But this confrontation is a good example of the differences between democrats and republicans. Democrats, like the man in the Toyota Camry, are willing to, and know other people should, sacrifice a little of their own interests in order to help out others. He could have kept going at his speed, and I would have had a problem getting to the left. However, he slowed down and let me over; he gave up a little, knowing it would help me out. The republican, on the other hand, thought only of himself. He should have waited a few more seconds and passed the car in front of him safely, without jeopardizing anyone else. Instead, he was only worried about his own advancement, and acted that way despite the fact he was harming others.
This is the difference between democrats and republicans. Democrats are willing to sacrifice, even if it’s only a little, in order to help others, whereas republicans are not. Equate this to taxes. Democrats, though no one ever likes super high taxes, are generally supportive of taxes if their purpose is to help others have opportunities; if they’re in support of healthcare, education, etc. Republicans though, view taxes as toxic. It doesn’t matter if it means more books for students or more medicine for the ill, if it’s a tax it means more sacrifice, and republicans say “no way.”
No one likes taxes. But democrats see that sacrifice on the individual’s part helps the whole. Going back to the Thruway, we all know traffic runs more smoothly when we merge properly, when we sacrifice. And we know that traffic becomes congested and accidents occur when we all speed up and ignore cars needing to pass instead of working together. That’s the democratic philosophy, sacrifice a little, and benefit the whole. A democrat is the driver of the Camry. A republican, though, is that man driving the truck, the man who refuses to look at anything other than his own interest.
And if there are too many of those drivers, we will get nowhere.
CP
