Being a Democrat in Arizona

Nothing reminds me more acutely that I am in Arizona than when people talk politics. Out here “talk of politics” seems really an invitation to mock and insult the president. Though I can’t say I begrudge people their right to do those things (God knows I did when it was G.W. in office) but I’m always surprised that here people do it so openly. In Northern Virginia there is that polite reticence of not saying too much in one direction or another politically, as one does not know how the other people lean. The hardest thing for me to do is when these people begin downing the road for insulting the President, I try politely to either steer the conversation or start my own sidebar

On the radio this morning, there was a commentary on the wasting of tax dollars – this argument just feeds into already held beliefs that the federal government is some nameless drone out of Washington DC that cannot relate to life here in the Wild West. In this part of the country, the main focus is always about being fiscally conservative. I like to imagine its because so many people are transplants to Arizona, they worked and made their money elsewhere and now live here like some curmudgeonly old gold miner. They don’t care about women’s bodies or who is sleeping with whom, but God forbid you touch a penny of theirs, than may all the wrath of God reign down on you. I do speculate if that is because so many Arizonian’s are newly rich or still striving to be rich.

When people talk about President Obama this way, I wonder what they did when he was running for election – it must have gotten very mean out this way, very quickly on! I think I read somewhere that President Obama didn’t even bother visiting Arizona.

This upcoming presidential election should prove to be an extremely acrimonious and messy time,