WHAT WOULD GENE AND VIRGINIA DO?

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we made lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (I Timothy 2:1-2)

At this point, only the most ill informed and disinterested people are unaware that Tuesday, November 4 is Election Day in the U.S.A. I’ve been voting since 1972 (I was one of those young people who “got the 18-year-old right to vote” when the Constitution was amended at that time.) Radio talk show host Jay Severin often talks about the fact that his parents stressed the importance of their kids being well educated and informed. Severin remembers politics and major news issues being discussed at the family dinner table by his parents. I grew up in a very similar home atmosphere.

My parents considered politics and voting to be VERY important. My father, Eugene “Gene” Baril and my mother, Virginia M. Baril, were each registered Democrats. Both were pretty conservative, although my mom’s politics were kind of all over the place. She was quite conservative about SOME matters and quite liberal about others. My parents were not the kind of people who voted for only Democrats. I know that in 1960 they each voted for Nixon for President. They felt John F. Kennedy did not have enough experience to be President and that he had not been a very good U.S. Senator. Ultimately, they liked Kennedy as President. I think that (like a lot of people of their generation) after JFK’s assassination they genuinely regretted not having voted for him in 1960. Even so, they also voted for Republican John A. Volpe for Governor and strongly admired him. Incidentally, my folks probably had closer contact with Michael Dukakis than with any other Massachusetts politician. They actually attended his inauguration ball when he was first elected Governor.

Along with many Americans, my parents did not like the choices offered for President in 1968. That was the year it was between Humphrey and Nixon. They voted for Humphrey, but very reluctantly. My parents shocked a lot of their friends in 1972 by voting for McGovern. They had become completely disillusioned with the Vietnam war and just plain wanted OUT of Vietnam. By 1980, they had become Reagan Democrats. My folks LOVED Ronald Reagan and enthusiastically voted for him in ’80 and ’84. My mother wanted to vote in the 2000 Presidential election in the WORST way, but throughout that year she kept saying she’d vote in November, “If I live”. She didn’t. She died on August 2, 2000. My mom DID change her party affiliation to “unenrolled” in early 2000 to vote for John McCain in the Republican primary. By that time, my father was in pretty bad shape, living at a nursing home in an Alzheimer’s unit. Mom LOVED McCain- possibly more than she loved Reagan.

Over the past day or so I’ve been thinking about how my parents would be voting on November 4, 2008 if they were alive and healthy. There’s no doubt in my mind that each would be voting for John McCain. Now, I happen to like Sarah Palin, but I think they’d be very nervous about her and they would not have approved of her being chosen for V.P. Despite serious reservations about Palin, they’d NEVER have voted for Barack Obama for President. It’s NOT because he’s black. It’s because they would have considered him a dangerous radical. I think my father would have voted for Republican Beatty for U.S. Senate against John Kerry. I’m not sure how my mother would have voted on that one- maybe she’d have voted for Kerry.

Then, there’s the matter of the ballot questions. I am certain my father would have voted “no” on Question 2, about decriminalizing the possession of a small amount of marijuana. My Dad was very authoritarian about the use and possession of illegal drugs. He was a “throw ‘em all in jail for 20 years” type about that kind of stuff. I think my mother would have disagreed with him and voted “yes” on Question 2. She could be kind of a bleeding heart about that sort of thing. I have no idea how my Mom would have voted about Greyhound racing (Question 3). I am convinced my Dad would have voted “no”. I don’t think he’d have liked the idea of the tracks being put of of business and a lot of people losing their jobs. The tough one to figure is how my parents would have voted on Question 1- the elimination of the state income tax. I just don’t know! My father was a career state employee. The Commonwealth of Mass. was pretty good to him. I suspect he would have voted “no”. I also suspect they would have feared their property taxes going up and so would have voted “no”, but I’m just not sure!

I suspect many of you would love to hear how I’m voting. If you know me at ALL you can EASILY guess who I want for President. He’s old enough to be my father, so I think you know who I mean. As far as the ballot questions, at this point I’m not telling how I intend to vote on Questions 1 or 3 but I have definitely made up my mind on them. At this point I’m totally undecided on Question 2. I don’t know HOW I will vote on it. I think there’s a strong argument either way on Question 2 and I just haven’t been able to make up my mind on it. If anybody wants to try to present a convincing argument to me about either side of Question 2, I’ll listen.

Anyway, we can only speculate on What Gene and Virginia Would Do, but WE can go to the polls on Tuesday!