Virgie Bell's View: Part I

If anyone believes for one minute that things in Washington DC will change because of the recent election, I have a news flash for you; our nation’s leaders will continue to emulate Hollywood. They will remain so enamored of themselves, they will not be able to see the forest for the trees. The foreseeable future predicts the gridlock we’re currently in will remain fixed.

It seems to me that our President is despised for being a redneck, and being a redneck myself, it is easily recognizable to me, this condescending disgust of the redneck. It’s as if the majority of the press and the liberals verbally attack our Commander In Chief for statements like, “Wanted dead or alive ... .”

“You are with us or against us,” just doesn't go over too well in our nation’s capitol. I agree with him wholeheartedly, or maybe I just understand plain statements. Personally, I have nothing against a Texan or any other redneck for that matter. There is a difference in a redneck and a plain old hick.

I’ll put it in language Hollywood can understand. John Wayne's roles were by and large, redneck characters. He was beloved by all, but then he became so yesteryear, and then the Duke was gone. Marlon Brandon was not a redneck. He could scream Stella or fill his mouth with cotton and play the Godfather with equal aplomb. Make no mistake about it, Brandon was good and I loved the abilities of the Duke and Brandon alike, but by the end of his life, Brandon became so full of himself; it was like viewing a tragic comedy. I cannot imagine John Wayne grabbing Larry King and kissing him full on the lips, but then I have trouble imagining anyone kissing Larry King on the lips at all.

I mention all of this because it seems that Hollywood has now inundated our newspapers with their words of wisdom. Just as men will grab the sports section, I grab for the editorials. Consider the newspaper that is daily delivered to my door. This past Thursday there was an article in the Albuquerque Journal, authored by none other than Michael Moore, “A Liberal Feels Conservatives' Pain." In it, Moore listed twelve promises to the losers—meaning all of us poor-slob-has-beens.

Our political system is so overwhelmed with good acting that we still are trying to find that straight line in the late night fog. We have only one thing our system cares about and that is a vote.

I’m a one vote person. I have voted against candidates for so long, I don't know if I could vote with a full and happy heart for anyone. I am a one vote redneck. I vote the party ticket, and yes, it is hard because whatever else we may be, we all are still human. We all have our Foley’s and our John Kerry’s. We always will. They are all human and convinced in their views. We who vote the party choose our contractor and give him the tools of his trade, or of his choice, to build our system into a working order. We are definitely not a block of voters; sadly, we are the silent majority. We usually speak only once every two to four years.

I read in the editorials today that it is the women that shaped this election and we [the women]are only interested in the kitchen table issues.

Well, thank you very much for putting us in our place, Dear Editor. You see us as poor and misguided--your view of us it that we only care if our children are better off than we are ... financially ... after we are gone. But it is our lower class hearts, our uneducated voices that deeply care and write and worry that the next generation is still even "here" at all to enjoy health or social benefit. The notion that we do not care about other world issues is as outdated as swan feathers are for a dress on Oscar Night.