An Otherwise Pleasant Evening

Tonight, I went out with my mom, my stepfather and my grandparents to celebrate Grandpa F.'s birthday (if you recall, Grandpa F. was recently in a car accident but he is feeling fine and driving a rental car paid for by his insurance company).

I promised myself that, especially because it was his birthday (i.e. not about me), I would not bring up politics.

Yeah. Like that happened.

But it really wasn't my fault. I swear.

See, Grandma R.B. was asking me about my job situation. I told her that I was fixing up my résumé and figuring out where I wanted to send it. She asked me if my father was going to get me a job. I wanted to tell her that he can't just snap his fingers to make a job appear for me, but instead, I just explained that he was just helping me figure out where to apply. I further explained that I'm not really in his field seeing as how he's an accountant and I'm--

She cut me off and told me I should work for a big firm. I explained that I was really more interested in working for a political think tank--

She cut me off again (she does that a lot) and told me I should call the Democratic group. I explained that I wasn't a Democrat and she asked me what I am. I started to explain that I was a Libertarian and--

She cut me off and asked me if this meant that I was going to vote Libertarian for president. I responded that I was voting for Bush--

She cut me off (notice a theme?) and told me that I was voting for him "because your father is".

Before I had more than a few seconds to get offended at this, she told a 'joke' that had as its punchline that only someone with an IQ of 50 would vote for Bush.



I'm tired of being told by certain people in my family that the only reason I think the way I do is because of my father. I can think for myself, thank you very much.

I'm tired of people, even friends and family, assuming that everyone agrees with them and expecting that they can say whatever they want politically while dissenting ideas are offensive.

I'm tired of liberals that I know personally as well as those in the media insinuating that to believe differently than they do means that you suffer from a lack of intelligence.