This is a atory about my evolution to the left side of the political spectrum. I wasn't always here. I started out pretty deeply right. I was both a social and fiscal conservative. I reached my late teens during the Nixon administration. Yeah, he got caught, but it was just what every other politician did, right? I thought Reagan was a bit of a putz, but trickle down? Well, it made sense, because why would anyone not pay the people that were making them money?
In the 80s, when every one was losing their jobs and companies were going to part time or temp work so they didn't have the added expense of benefits and retirement for employees, I started to have doubts that the only reason was that companies were losing profits was overseas competition. But hey, as long as the maximum amount was going into my paycheck, I knew I would have to make due. After all, I could still afford an apartment and a car, even though I was a single mom, and I was looking into buying a house. I could do it. Then.
But at the same time, I was starting to meet real live gay people, and it started to wear away my Anita Bryant inspired concerns about homosexuality in my community. It got to the point I was spending more time in gay bars than straight bars, and had more gay friends than straight. Back then, that was pretty novel for a Republican. And I found myself starting to pull down levers in the voting both labeled D as often as those labeled R. Then a woman I worked with set me straight when I told her I was "colorblind", and I had a lot more to consider, and those experiences had me pulling down the D lever more and more often.
The thing is, I still considered myself pretty conservative fiscally. I didn't like a lot of pork going through Capitol Hill, and I hated the thought of my hard earned tax money going to stupid things, when it should be in my pocket so I could buy that house, or a vacation for the kids.
And around that time, something happened that changed my best friend's life, and I had thought nothing about. It was my makeup routine.
You see, I always invested in good quality makeup from the department store, rather than the drugstore makeup that was less expensive. Good quality makeup stays on, stays put, doesn't give you breakouts. Good quality makeup has depth of color. I always wanted to look my best at work and when going out, and it was important (at least while I was at work) for my makeup not to run, smear, or fade throughout the work day, even if I was working in an environmental chamber in 80 degrees and 80% humidity.
I told this to my friend, Darlene, back in those days, and I never knew she took it to heart until our shared 50th birthday party. So until today, I really didn't connect the dots.
But as time passed, as I became involved in volunteer work with families in crisis, and later in education, I saw a lot of places where I felt tax money would be better spent than on bombs and tanks. The problem, as I saw it, was that the government was not going to give up on new bombs and tanks, so we needed more money coming in to pay for things I thought were important, like education and infrastructure.
And later, when I started teaching, it was pretty clear that schools in districts with higher property taxes had better buildings, better technology, and newer books.
And it became more obvious to me that sometimes you have to pony up a little more to get what you want or need.
Today I hear a lot of people saying "Why doesn't the government do this or that?" But they don't want to pay taxes for this or that. Part of the reason is pretty rational: it's the poor people who pay the most in taxes, and are most harmed when those dollars don't make it to their wallets. If the tax system were fair, then we wouldn't see that. But the people who have the most money, who profit from the poverty of others, those are the same people who don't let wealth "trickle down", and have the most desire to see the policies that allow them free reign to continue, and allowing them to continue to accumulate wealth.
So sure, it's logical that a lot of people who are focused on keeping money on both ends of the economic spectrum are going to vote R, because they believe it will have immediate impact on their wallet.
And as I've gotten older, I've seen how shortsighted that is. Because not paying for efficient public transportation is making it difficult for people to work, contributing to global warming, and costing people money in less efficient transportation (and parking, if you're in someplace like NYC or San Francisco, where it's a major financial burden). I'd rather have a few more dollars taken out of every paycheck, if I could save on gas and parking costs! And health insurance? When I was teaching, I was paying $400/ month on an insurance plan that paid none of my medical bills, because when you have an autoimmune disorder, insurance companies can consider literally anything a "pre-existing condition" and not cover it. When I went on Medicare, I learned about disparity in health care. Now I'm Medicare for All. Doctors won't turn away patients because of their insurance if we all have the same insurance!
In the long run (and fairly recently, perhaps over the last decade and a half) I've become increasingly liberal when it comes to government spending. Ultimately, you get what you pay for.
And that brings me back to my friend and her makeup.
Because when I went to visit her on our shared 50th birthday, I noticed she had a makeup organizer with some pretty high end makeup. I asked her about spending so much of her Social Security on makeup, and she said "you taught me about the importance of quality makeup."
I had forgotten.
Now, I'm attempting to go back to work again. I'm hoping my condition is stable enough that I can get some more earning under my belt before retirement age because (A) I'm bored out of my mind being home and (B) I have a strong work ethic, and hate being on disability. I'll probably invest in good makeup, because you get what you pay for. And I'll probably be paying a lot more in taxes than I did in the other states I've lived in, because California is pretty solid blue when it comes to fiscal policy. And will I resent the taxes? Sure, I'll grumble some. But I also have a clearer idea that I chose to be here, in this blue spending state (a state with a huge surplus rather than deficit) because of all those things that the tax money goes to.
Today I'm true Blue, both in my social and fiscal views. A dyed in the wool leftie, because after thinking about it, and living across the social-economic and political spectrums, it's really the only thing that seems to make sense.
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