Switching a Vote: From Sheehy to Tester
Yes, you read that title right. I was able to switch a vote from Sheehy to Tester. I’m not a bragger, but I’m super proud of this seeing as EVERY VOTE here in MT counts for this senate race, and I wanted to share it with the DK community.
Meeting My Neighbor
It all started with a question my neighbor asked me when I was finishing up some work on his car. A little background on my neighbor: he is a sixty-something white straight male (I am a thirty-something white straight male for reference), single, and semi-retired. He’s a very cool, nice, caring person, and I’ve known him since I was pretty young. He would give you the shirt off his back in an instant. Although originally from the Philly area, he moved to Montana around when I was born, and he’s someone who is a genuine Montanan and all-around good American. Really can’t say enough how nice this dude is; I’m lucky to have him and his super sweetheart dog as neighbors.
Daily Conversations
We’ve been neighbors for about 4 years now, and we talk basically every day across the fence. Up until this point, I had no clue what his political leanings were. He only flies an American flag off his porch, whereas I built a flagpole from rock and an old telephone pole specifically to hold up my LGBTQ and Ukrainian flags. So he definitely knows where I stand.
The Conversation Begins
As I was finishing up his car, he asked me what my thoughts were on the GA school shooting. I told him I watched an interview CNN had with a super smart woman that was in the same class as the shooter before he went to grab his weapon of mass destruction. I highly recommend watching the interview, by the way. I told him how empty, hollow, and hopeless I felt as she described in great and concise detail how she basically was expecting the shooting to happen. And then I told him that the saddest thing of all is that we both know that nothing will change, again, after this one.
Discussing Solutions
After I told him how I felt, he said, “I think it would be a good idea if we armed the teachers to combat the shooters.” It was at that moment I realized that he, at least, was more on the right side of the political spectrum. However, my neighbor is way smarter than the trumpanzees around here and doesn’t have an angry bone in his body. He has the intellectual capability to have nuanced discussions with a serious socialist liberal, unlike 80% of the population here in my County.
Exploring Deeper Issues
After telling him the obvious that arming teachers won’t solve anything (and will only make things way more unsafe), I asked him why he thinks we are in the situation where we even have to think about arming our teachers to protect the kids? I said to him, “Let’s look at our lack of healthcare. Let’s look at our lack of child care. Let’s look at the gun lobbies and the corrupt politicians that take their money and perpetuate this cycle. We need look no further than our Republican elected officials that have continuously voted for the rights of guns over our lives, due to the gun lobbies pumping their corrupt asses full of dirty money.”
A Change of Heart
“Wow, I didn’t think about it like that, and you know what, you’re right!” my neighbor said to me.
“I know,” I said semi-smugly. “But you know what, it’s going to get 10 times worse than it is now if Trump and them get in. More kids will die, and not only that, the women we know and love are going to lose significant rights over the control of their bodies and their privacy. Gay people are going to get killed back into the closet. And they’re gonna start to come after us after they get them, because you can see how much they’re starting to hate us childless cat people.” I said that last part semi-jokingly to try and lighten the mood a little bit.
Talking About Sheehy
”Well, what do you think about Sheehy?” my neighbor asked. My answer came out with glee; “I’d love to tell you how I think about him! He’s a huge liar for one, saying he got shot in war, only to have shot himself in Glacier Park (guns are strictly forbidden in GNP by the way). He lied about parachuting into GNP for, well, I really don’t know why, just to lie I guess. He lied about his ‘successful’ firefighting business he started in SW MT because it’s failing hardcore and is about bankrupt, and the cherry on top is he’s from Minnesota. Back in my day they called them carpetbaggers. (side note: my neighbor is 30 plus years older than me) He wants to take away our right to access our public land here in Montana and wants to take away our stream access rights. He’ll vote to take away our social security and your Medicare.”
Praising Tester
I went on to tell him about several of the awesome things Tester has done for us here in Montana. Things like getting the Little Musselshell Tribe federally recognized. All the great work he does as head of the VA committee in the Senate. Tester was vital in getting the USPS to keep the Missoula sorting center open that DeJoy wanted to close down, which would’ve added two or more days to all pieces of mail that we send out from our neck of the woods.
”The best thing is that he’s an actual Montanan, like you. He still runs his farm outside Big Sandy. Pretty cool dude for a politician,” I said. “So you’re definitely voting for Tester then?” my neighbor asked. ”You know it!!!” I said emphatically. “Alright, I am now too!” he said, also with a little excitement.
Personal Stories
We talked for a bit longer as I finished working on his car. I found out that when he was 16, he got his 17-year-old girlfriend pregnant and they had an abortion. He hadn’t told anyone about it until that point, he said. I was honored that he felt he could confide in me about that, and I told him about the time I paid for my ex’s abortion when she got pregnant. (Did I mention I had a vasectomy when we first got together? That’s why she’s my ex now. But we both knew what we had to do for the well-being of that kid; she didn’t have the capacity to raise it, nor did the dude she slept with, and I didn’t want to see that kid suffer through a life of torture.)
Finding Common Ground
We know MAGAs and the RWNJs can’t be talked to. But some people on the right can… the hard part is finding who those people are. Turns out they can be much closer than you think.
