He was very young, barely old enough to vote .... which became a concern to me during the course of our conversation. He obviously had been greatly influenced at home, which is as it should be. We parents have every right and obligation to teach our children to believe in all that we hold dear. I hope that with age and wisdom, he will eventually re-evaluate conservatism with a mind more open than it is now. He probably hopes that about me and liberalism as well.
He and I share the same religion as Mitt Romney, which I fully agree should not be the basis for giving the governor our vote. However, this young man felt it was reason to NOT vote for him. He expressed the concern that a Mormon shouldn't be president because he might push his beliefs on others. Did it matter that Romney has no history of doing this in politics? No. Does it matter that we have no knowledge of ANY Mormon doing this in politics? No. And to what beliefs did he refer? The belief in honesty? Personal responsibility? Morality? Value of families? Clean living? ...... Separation of church and state, he said. Did it matter that every president thus far, affiliated with some type of religious beliefs, including Barack Obama? Was it ever a concern that THEY might have pushed their religion? Not to him.
He also said that Romney doesn't understand the poor. He has always been rich. He cannot relate to the average person. So does this mean the ultra rich are uniformly disqualified from the presidency? Did he realize that Sen. John Kerry, who ran on the Democratic ticket in 2004, is far wealthier than Romney? What about Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, who were also very rich? And for that matter, George Washington was extremely wealthy in his day. This did not matter.
He said we should all be enabled to retire at age 65. The rest of us should be willing to contribute into the system to pay for it. Did it matter that the system can no longer afford this? Did it matter that when Social Security was set up, people lived shorter life spans and no one anticipated us living 20 or 30 years on retirement benefits? Did it matter that the math of more people drawing from SS than those who are paying into it, doesn't work? No.
He said we are supposed to help the poor. Yes, I agree. Did he know that statistics have repeatedly shown that conservatives donate far more to charity than do liberals? No. Did it matter that Mitt Romney has donated millions? No. He said the government should help poor people.
He said the rich should be willing to pay more in taxes. They don't need all their money, he says. Did it matter that if ALL the rich gave ALL their money to the government, it still would not cover what the government spends? How much is enough? I asked. As of 2009 the top 10% income-earners already pay 70% of federal income taxes, while 50% of the population pay 2%. How much is fair? This did not matter to him.
Did the national debt matter to him? No. Or more likely, I doubt he'd thought about it.
We parted on good terms. He said he always enjoys a good political discussion. As do I, even though my responsibility to preserve the relationship in this situation, caused me to bite my tongue... a lot. But it worries me now, more than ever, that his vote, which is based on feelings rather than facts, will count the same as mine. His very young, ill-informed vote will cancel mine out.
That scares me.
