At least three times a day for the past week, I've answered the telephone only to hear a recording of a "supporter" of one or the other presidential candidate. Well, most are recordings. A few have been live people. Every single one of them has been annoying.
It's not that I'm disinterested in politics. It's just that I choose to research my political information on my own time. And it's usually not while I'm making dinner, doing lessons or nursing the baby.
The first call came while I was trying to get Baby calmed down for a nap. When I first heard the recorded voice, I assumed it was a telemarketer and wondered how they slipped through the do-not-call list. But as I listened, I realized that it was a public service announcement...forced on me through my telephone! I listened, hoping there would be an opportunity for comment at the end, something like, "Press or say 1 if this call was helpful. Press or say 2 if this call was extremely inconvenient and annoying." No such luck.
I tried dialing *69 to see if I could back to tell them how ineffectual their call was on me, that I was so disgruntled by their waking my baby that I couldn't hear a thing they were saying. But the *69 attempt was unsuccessful. While they have my number, can call me and give a one-sided monologue, I'm just stuck being annoyed and inconvenienced. For the record, this particular call was from the campaign headquarters of the candidate I support. Had it been a telemarketer, I'd never buy from that company again. It's almost enough to make a voting person join the ranks of the non-voters...almost. Not voting, unfortunately, is just not an option for me. Still, these very inconsiderate bargings into my private home on my time make me want to stay out of politics altogether.
This morning, I answered the phone to hear a real live person ask for me by name. When I responded that, why yes, it was I and prepared myself for a pleasant conversation with an old friend or even the unpleasant ultimatum of a bill collector. Instead, she identified herself as a so-and-so supporter (though did not give her name) and asked me who I "supported." Am I wrong on this, or aren't one's voting choices still a private matter? Asking who I support and asking for whom I will be voting is the *same thing.* I listened to her stumble through her obviously unscripted speech about why the opposing candidate was a loser, telling me all of the stupid things he'd ever said, and briefly mentioning that she thought her candidate was "promising."Maybe, I thought as I continued to balance my checkbook, I'll turn the tables on this caller. Maybe, instead of trying to get rid of her, she'll have to try to get rid of me. Maybe I'll be the one who doesn't just *not* hang up...but *won't* hang up. So I listened to her unscripted diatribe without comment for several minutes more, hearing her wander further and further into desperate babbling as she realized that this was as much of a one-sided conversation as all of those recorded messages. I was wondering how she was going to wind this conversation up when, finally, she stumbled for the words to say to close the conversation. "Well, just think about what I said," she finished. "Goodbye," I responded, politely but finally.
In actuality, I can't think about what she said. I was too wrapped up in feeling intruded upon to consciously hear her words. But maybe these tele-campaigners already know this. Maybe they're just hoping for the subliminal factor to take over.
Living in this Amish community, I've found that the Amish are targeted in the "swinging" match, too, even if they aren't running to their phone booths to answer the tele-campaigners daily calls. Holmes County, which includes Ohio's largest concentration of Amish, registered the second-highest vote for Bush in the state last time around, with 73.9 percent in his favor. Rumor has it that there is a push to get more voters registered in our community, perhaps to get the non-voting Amish to join the ranks of the voting Amish. This article was recently published in a neighboring city's paper. In it, the reporter quotes an Amish bookkeeper who says that he believes most Amish don't vote. Talking to my Amish neighbor, however, this isn't the case. Aden and Laura, an Old Order Amish couple, will be riding with us to the voting booth.
I had just read the above-mentioned article shortly before Bohemian and I had a conversation with Aden about the upcoming election. In the article, the reporter asks an Old Order Amishman about his voting bent.
But what about the war, I ask. Doesn't that create a moral conflict?
Miller says that, while he doesn't support the war, he does support the troops, and he respects the president's decisiveness. And the war is counterbalanced in his mind by Bush's stance against abortion and gay marriage, and by his support of independent businessmen like himself. But his respect goes beyond platform topics.
I ask Aden what he hears from his Amish friends and neighbors.
"Most of the people I know will vote," Aden tells me. He mentions the Bush/Cheney sign at the end of his lane. I've seen similar signs in the yards of other Amish homes, though the article mentions that there are possibly Amish Kerry supporters, as well.
"There's no question for me. I'll vote for Bush," Aden says. "At least I know he's a praying man."
The conversation flows that direction for a while, Bohemian and Aden both agreeing that Kerry makes no show of religion, which the past three presidents have done.
"I think that, when it comes time to make a decision, Bush is on his knees talking to God."
Kerry, on the other hand, doesn't make any allusions to his political decisions being guided by a higher power. In this article, John Kerry states, " I fully intend to continue to practice my religion as separately from what I do with respect to my public life, and that's the way it ought to be in America."
I asked Aden if it's difficult, in an election like this, to make a decision about these two opposing political candidates when your very faith and culture pull you in two different directions. While the Amish culture is religiously conservative (which is not to say that all Amish are religious or conservative), they're also a pacifist group. Aden said that, for him, there's no question.
"Well," Aden says, "Ladies' Home Journal had both Laura Bush and Kerry's wife on the front. Kerry's wife just doesn't look like a first lady at all."
When you live in a swing-state, when your head is spinning from the thousands of opinions and dozens of phone calls, I guess that reasoning makes about as much sense as any I've heard the tele-campaigners give so far.
