Stick it

Call me a father. Call me a husband. Call me a son.

Call me a teacher. Call me a journalist. Call me a coach.

Call me an American. Call me a South Dakotan. Call me a Vermillion Tanager.

Call me idealistic. Call me naive. Call me cynical.

Call me ignorant. Call me parochial. Call me a damn fool.

But don't call me a Democrat.

Democrats have made a mess of things. Under their watch, the American middle class has begun to vanish. Where once one wage earner could support a family, it now takes two incomes and sometimes three or four jobs. There has been an enormous and unprecedented shift of wealth to the most well-to-do. Corporations have been allowed to steamroll workers and swindle shareholders. Going to the doctor has gotten to be so expensive, people pray each night they do not get sick. Soaring tuition costs soon will make attending college a pipe dream for the poor and the sole province of the rich. Instead of solving problems on energy, on immigration, on the environment, Democrats point fingers, and when finally tossed from office, they turn up as lobbyists for polluters and unscrupulous profiteers. They pretend to be champions of the powerless. But it is a pretense only.

Call me a Christian. Call me a sinner. Call me a believer of mercy and grace.

Call me a white male. Call me advantaged. Call me free from the slights minorities face.

Call me a capitalist. Call me a worker. Call me an idiot for once espousing supply-side economics.

Call me a Cubs fan. Call me a Dirty Harry diehard. Call me if an extra ticket to the Boss ever drops in your lap.

Say I'm no Dickens, no Frost. Say Bud Weiser must be my personal trainer. Say I'm a lousy shot and a worse dancer.

But don't call me a Republican.

Republicans have made a mess of things. Under their watch, IOUs have been stacked to the heavens. America started the 21st century as a debtor nation and in all likelihood will end it as one, too. Used to be Republicans kept their hands out of taxpayers' pockets and kept their noses out of other people's private lives. Used to be they despised bureaucratic interference, and the thought of accepting a dime – let alone billions of dollars – from the government sent them into shock. Used to be Republicans stood for self-determination. No more.

Because of them, America has become trapped in a long and confusing war. Because of them, the people I call on the telephone, the content of the e-mail messages I send and the books I check out at the library are not just my own business anymore. Because of their use of tax policy to favor the rich, there is a good chance this generation of children in America will be the first to fail to lead better lives than their parents. In public they scold anyone who does not share their moral code while in private they are perverse. So staggering is their hypocrisy, it sickens.

We have a tendency to label each other. We do it, I suppose, to bring order to chaos, to provide a sense of security. We pin labels to distinguish between us and them. Of course, we are more complex than simple labels. Easy definitions do not do us justice.

So it is a simpleminded tendency we have, and what degree of security we derive from it is a false one. Still, if I must be labeled, take your pick. There are all kinds of them that fit – some that I am proud to wear, others that I regret.

But please don't call me a Democrat, and please don't call me a Republican. I find no difference between them. Only sad similarities that have left people so disillusioned, they have turned their backs on the political process.

I am not one of these people. Not yet. I will vote on Tuesday because I refuse to give up and because I refuse to give in. Perhaps you feel the same way and will vote, too.

In this, call us united.