Politics That Divide Us

Sarah Palin was campaigning in North Carolina where she implied that small towns are the real America and the most pro-American. I took exception to that.

“We believe, we believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans: those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us, those who are protecting us in uniform, those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

As a resident of the largest town in New York State with a population of 765,111 (yes, you read that right. It's more than Alaska), I'd have to say that we are just as pro-America as any other place. We have so many immigrants that sometimes you wonder what country you're in, but I have to say that that the immigrants are so darn happy to be here and remind me on a daily basis of what a great country this is. Yes they do.

I wonder why so many immigrants would come HERE to my town of all places, but they tell me that there is no work or no fairness where they came from or how violent things are where they lived and how great things are here even though our taxes are among the highest in the country.

There are 16 families on my block. 7 of them (that I know of) are originally from other countries: India, Italy, Palestine, and Spain. My son got to attend school with kids from all over the world. How lucky we are to be surrounded by hardworking decent people who are participating in the melting pot that made America great. There are plenty of us blondes who were born here too and we are not chopped liver, Mrs. Secessionist.

We fight wars too. My town has sent more kids off to war than the state of Alaska has. We probably funded more of the Iraq war than the whole state of Alaska. So what's her point?

Every place in this country is real America. Every place in the country has hardworking people and families and kids and teachers and factory workers who make sacrifices and work towards the betterment of their communities and the country as a whole.

We don't allow guns here, but that doesn't make us bad people. We are just so darn squished (only 191 sq miles of which 37% is water) that someone might lose an eye if we were all packing heat. Does that make us un-American in Palin's eyes? We also have the lowest crime rate in the country. So put that in your pipe, Barbie, and smoke it.

It's no wonder that my area has gone from one of the reddest burgs in the nation to one of the bluest in recent years, what with that gobbledy goop about "real" America from the GOP, who needs that kind of disrespect? I mean, really.

Color me squished and pissed off.