I spent a few hours on Saturday at the Doylestown Democrat table at the farmers’ market in Doylestown, PA. It is a community gathering place from Spring to Fall. Fresh fruits and veggies, natural remedies, beverages, baked goods, pickles, flowers, and acoustic music wafting through the air. People carry their reusable bags to be environmentally conscious. It has a reputation of being a welcoming space for everyone, except during election season.
Lots of people stopped by our table, asked questions, told us why they will vote the Harris/Walz ticket, took literature, signed up to volunteer, gave smiles, hugs, thumbs up and high fives. We had small American flags and Rainbow Pride flags to hand out. It felt festive, welcoming and joyful. The other team had a table next to ours with posterboards featuring ‘Trumpaganda’, and the energy was loud and confrontational, with DT flags waving on the street corner, his voice blaring through a sound system. Because there is freedom of speech, there was nothing prohibiting them from exercising it. The repetition felt like the torture methods used to break POWs. On a few occasions, one of their volunteers got agitated with people who asked them to turn it down. The police got involved. I don’t know what the outcome was.
A sad observation I had was when a young, fresh faced family approached their table and walked away with mini flags bearing DT’s name. The woman was pregnant, the child looked to be around 2 or 3 and all she knew was that she got a flag to wave. She had no idea what it meant. One of the accusations his supporters lob at Liberals is that our goal is to indoctrinate children. What kind of example is part and parcel of voting for a sex offender, a 34 count convicted felon, who spouts hateful words and demands allegiance or else? What type of indoctrination goes into supporting a xenophobe, homophobe, anti-Semite, sexist, racist? My thought was that I hope her pregnancy goes well and she is not faced with the heart rending experience of not being able to carry to term and that someday if her little daughter might be faced with the difficult decision about whether to be pregnant that she has a choice. Only one candidate will assure that.
Indoctrination? I am all for teaching children to be curious and learn about other cultures and religious beliefs. I am in favor of social and emotional learning, since emotional intelligence is as important as academic success and intellect. I support LGBTQ+ rights since anything else falls into the category of bigotry. People make assumptions that heteronormativity should be the default. I believe in modeling respect whether or not you agree with someone’s stance on anything. Whenever I speak with others about their perspective, I do it without name calling or ridicule. I want the next generations to love the planet on which we live. I want to teach children that regardless of skin color, physical or psychological challenges, socioeconomic background, religion or upbringing, treating people with dignity is a necessity.
As I was standing between the two tables, leaning on my hiking pole, since it helps me maintain balance, someone at the Republican table accused me of eavesdropping on their conversations. I said I was just standing and that they were welcome to listen to the conversation at our table. I told them they could ask me anything they want. What ensued was a 15-minute dialog with one of the regulars at their table. He used the typical talking points, somehow believes that Obama is still running the government and that the Democratic party is anti-Semitic and hates Israel. Oy vey. He told me he is Jewish and I acknowledged that commonality. He tossed about the words ‘communist’ and ‘socialist’. He believes that the 2020 election was stolen, and he almost went to DC on January 6th. He blames Nancy Pelosi, saying she didn’t accept the 10,000 National Guard members that DT offered and that it was not a violent insurrection and says that police officers ushered people in. He kept saying, “Look it up. Research it.” Neither of us changed the other’s mind. I thanked him for the time to learn about him. I told him that we clearly live in two different realities, flashed a peace sign and went back to my table for hugs.
What I didn’t tell him is that the candidate he supports made an anti-Semitic comment about a player at one of his casinos in Atlantic City back in the 80s, referring to him as a ‘kike’. My sister was an employee and overheard the foul word. Gutsy broad that she was back then, she approached her boss and called him out. He blustered about it and said it was a joke and that the target of his bigotry was okay with it. I didn’t think to ask the man at the other table if he received and cashed the stimulus check sent by the government during the pandemic.
I noticed that the red hat wearing man narrowed his eyes and was shaking as we were talking. I stayed calm even though my heart was pounding and I used my soothing therapist voice. I felt like I had been slimed and needed to take a shower to cleanse myself of the vitriol after the conversation ended.
I was also distressed by the people driving through the intersection, honking their horns, and giving the flag wavers thumbs up. These are people in my community who I may see at the grocery store, or the gym, at the post office or local businesses. Even though they might think they do, I don’t believe they have the best interests of our entire country at heart, only what they represent. I am thinking generations ahead. I wonder if they are doing that.
The hardest part of this for me is being a serene center in the midst of a whirlwind of hateful rhetoric. As I drive through my area in Bucks County, PA which is a pivotal county in a pivotal state in the election I am bombarded with a sea of signs that proclaim that they want to take America back. I wonder what they want to take it back to and who they want to take it from. I would love to have a conversation about that with someone whose home bears those words on a campaign sign or flag. I wish it was safe to do so. I wish it was safe to put up campaign signs in my yard, but I am hesitant, not wanting to experience vandalism. I struggle with judging every new person I encounter, wondering who they will vote for. I used to be open and accepting of people until 2016 when the former guy ushered in a time of darkness, and while he didn’t create bigoted attitudes and actions, he stirred them up and keeps the fire lit beneath the boiling pot. I pray that a time will come soon when I can vacate the space in my head that he has taken up for far too long and return to unity consciousness. I long to stay human.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Internal images courtesy of author
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Photo credit: Flickr
