(Click on the logo to return to the main blog.)

A Speck of Red in a Blue State
05/29/2003

And so it has gone since I made the transition from blue, through purple, to red:

I just got off the phone with a wonderful woman from my writers' group who is being extremely helpful and encouraging in the quest for funds for the Redwood Review. Toward the end of the conversation, she asked how the fundraising was going, and I confided that I'd been coming across articles all over the place in which local donation-based groups complained of a lack of money. She responded:

"It seems as if everybody is hurting for money — except George Bush and his cohorts."

How to respond? It isn't (any longer) in my nature to just chuckle at such comments and move on. I'd decided, when I was shocked to realize that more people believe in God than I'd thought when I was an atheist, that not addressing such casual allusions goes a long way toward enabling people to believe in homogeneity of opinion.

What I said was that people at that level of wealth — from Hollywood to the New York Times to Washington — weren't likely hurting for money regardless of their politics. What I should have said was, "Tell me about it. If he hadn't let his tax cuts get delayed, postponed, and strung out over a decade, the economy would have rebounded by now."

I think I surprised her by doing anything but agreeing. And now, as always, I'll have that mild discomfort that comes with wondering whether people are going to treat me differently having discovered that I'm "one of those"... you know... Hipublicans.

Posted by Justin Katz @ 01:44 PM EST