At the end of my first post today I wrote "Meh, too many Democrats are low-life scum." As the day has progressed I've mused about that comment and those musings unearthed a memory from my youth.
My dear mother, dead nearly 20 years, was a lifelong Roosevelt Democrat. She was won over during the Great Depression by Roosevelt's fireside chats and New Deal. My father whom she met during the Depression was a Southern Democrat (i.e., social conservative populist) who died too soon to become a Reagan Democrat.
Mother was an active club woman - Women's Club, women's association at the church, Garden Club. I asked her once why she wasn't active in the Democratic Party, as it seemed a natural fit. I'll never forget her reply.
Mother memorably said, "I know women active in Democratic politics and they aren't the sort of people I like." I pressed her and she added, "Most of the women I like are Republicans, not active in politics but that's how they vote." Dear lady, I can imagine her biting her tongue as they talked politics at the bridge table.
As an academic for almost 40 years I was a conservative Republican mostly surrounded by progressive Democrats, "liberals." Like mother, I did my share of tongue-biting as colleagues bashed Republicans.
Because I liked my profession, keeping my head down politically was worth the cost in irritation. Obviously in a Business School - my university home - there were fellow conservatives but we were a minority and didn't make many waves.
Were I still an active academic I probably wouldn't (couldn't?) write what you read here. "Micro-aggressions," don't you know, maybe even hate crime in some eyes. I'm glad I retired when I did, and missed the precious snowflake hypersensitivity of today's campus.
