I dont usually write political blogs, neither do I often read them, but after a conversation I witnessed the other day, I decided to write about it.
An elderly neighbour was by his gate as Gregg and I were driving out of ours, to be polite, Gregg stopped the truck to say Hi.
After the usual weather talk, the election was brought in to the conversation,
they chit chatted for a few moments, then the old man said something that made me raise my eyebrows.
He said.. "Of course, I will be voting democrat, like I always have, and like my Father before me, yep!.. we always vote democrat no matter what, you have to stick to what you believe in!"
After the chatting ended and we pulled away from the gate, his words went around in my head. and then I wondered, do people really do that?.. do they just vote a certain way just because they always have, and dont even bother to go in to what they are proposing? I was completely floored by the old mans statement, I am English, and I dont know too much about American politics, but what I believe, is that people should surely go in to what they are proposing for the country before they decide to vote, no matter what party they represent.
Thats like saying, I will always have a dog, then the next dog that you buy bites you, they are not all the same, you cant guarantee that the next will be the same as the last, just like heads of democrats or republicans, they may be from the same party as the one that did well before, but this one might not be as good for you.
There are good points and bad as far as I can see on both sides as I have watched the debates recently, as an outsider, I think the only thing that will lose the election for Obama is his idea to fine people for not having health insurance. if people dont have it, its usually because they cant afford it, fining people will only make it worse.
People will vote the way they want, and my blog nor any other will make a difference to that, nor do I want it to, I just hope that there aren't too many people like the old man, who vote the same way again and again, just because its a family tradition, and not because they are voting for what they stand for.
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Etowah
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Oct 10 @ 2:11PM
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Yes, Charlie Girl,
Americans do that. By the way, I thought you lived in Portugal?
At any rate, lots of folks in eastern Tennessee always vote Republican because their ancestors were Pro-Union during the Civil War.
Lots of folks in western Tennessee always vote Democrat because their ancestors were Confederates during the Civil War.
Many whites around here in the Georgia Mountains always vote Republican because they associate the Democrats with the Civil Rights movement. The funny thing is that they also like to wave Confederate flags alot, when in fact, this area was Pro-Union in the Civil War. A Union flag flew for two years on our courthouse during the Civil War, until a unit of Confederate cavalry came over the mountain to take it down, and put up a Confederate national flag.
Yes, there is not always a lot of logic in American voting or flag waving habits.
Richard
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IB4U
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Oct 10 @ 2:14PM
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I understood that a lot of the English and Canadians nearly always vote as in the past Liberal or Conservative....
I believe that a lot of the people here that went though The Great Depression or WW11 nearly always stayed within political party lines....Today with all the media coverage of the elections a lot of the current day voters may swing to a different party of vote for who they think will do the best job....At least I hope they !
JMO 
IB4U
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CHARLIgurl1
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Oct 10 @ 4:36PM
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By the way, I thought you lived in Portugal?
I did, I married an American, and I now live in Texas. 
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kywonder
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Oct 10 @ 8:39PM
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Yep they do. My dad voted Democrat for years no matter what happened. And then one day his eyes opened up and he got smart and voted Republican. And since then we have a mixed family, part Democrat (the dumb ones) and part Republican (the smart ones). Kinda like that blue eye and brown eye thing. 
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