I Want to be a Stepford Wife [View All]

[proud2BlibKansan]

I think I understand why people become republicans. It’s easier to not care, not cry, not be angry. It’s easier to be blind to the injustices in this country, or to pretend you don’t see them. It makes you feel good to think you have worked hard and have a good life and a family you are proud of, a family you created from all that hard work. A family whose values you can feel responsible for, and that’s an accomplishment you can be proud of.

It’s easier not to think about OTHER PEOPLE. Other people who are different from you and your family. Why go to all the trouble to understand those people who are different? You are too busy working hard and building that life and that family you are so proud of.

Who has the time to waste a beautiful mind thinking about unpleasant things? There are just too many of those unpleasant things in this country; no way can any one person wrap their mind around all of them or even part of them. Because if you find yourself caring about just one of those homeless people, just one of those displaced refugees, then what will keep you from caring about another one and then just a few more? Before you know it, you will actually be giving them money or spending some of your precious free time (when you aren’t working hard) doing something to help someone, and after all, your family needs you there to help them adopt those values you plan on being proud of.

I came to this revelation while watching the most wonderful independent film. If you really are a republican, you don’t want to ever watch Independent Lens on PBS. It is a weekly series of documentaries, usually about people who are different, people you don’t want to waste your beautiful mind worrying about.

This film was called Sentenced Home. It was about three young men from Seattle, WA. Actually they were from Cambodia. When they were kids, their families escaped the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot in Cambodia. The oldest of these three young men was eight when he came to the United States. Now that they are young adults, they are being deported back to Cambodia. Because they, like many teenagers living in urban high crime areas, committed crimes as teenagers, they now have to leave the US. One of them had one incident as a 16 year old, never got into trouble again and when his wife talked him into applying for citizenship over 10 years later, he was detained and deported.

As I watched this film, I cried. I couldn’t understand why the American dream is available to my two kids, who are about the same age as these three men in the film, yet denied to people who have sure had a harder life than my kids have. One of my kids also had problems as a teenager and he was allowed to start over and no one is making him leave the US.

I actually had to turn off this show and calm myself down. The scene that got me was when one of these men met up with a teacher he had when he first came to America. The teacher was showing him class pictures and I remembered that I too had taught many kids who had immigrated from southeast Asia in the 1980s. I too have class pictures just like that teacher had. And I started wondering about the kids I taught 20 years ago, whose parents came here from Cambodia and Vietnam and Laos. Were any of them facing deportation now?

That’s when I realized that if I was a republican, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t be crying and worrying about young people I taught 20 years ago. I wouldn’t be angry at an unfair criminal justice system. And the idea of just not caring actually appeals to me.

Think of all the time I would have if I didn’t care. I could take up all kinds of hobbies. If I didn’t care about the environment, I could spend my weekends riding 4 wheelers in the country. I could join a book club and meet with other people who also don’t care and we could discuss trashy romance novels. I could finally learn to play Bunko, that game the republican women in my community play.

If I didn’t care about world peace, I could convince my two strapping young sons to join the military and go over and fight those insurgents in Iraq. And then I wouldn’t have to worry about paying their college tuition!

I could join a church and condemn others who don’t bother to show up on Sunday morning. I could tithe and write one check a month to my church instead of the many I write now to so many different left wing charitable causes.

I could be proud to be an American once again. Since I really do miss that pride, this really appeals to me. I like the idea of United We Stand. I miss being proud and not fearing my government.

I am tired of worrying my little head about such complicated issues as the war in Iraq. My kids are not in the military, why should I worry about other people’s kids who are?

I am tired of worrying my little head about 43 million Americans without health care. I have health care. Oh but I just remembered that my two kids are two of those 43 million. So I guess I should worry about that.

I don’t want to worry about hungry people anymore. It is wearing me out. What can I do to solve that problem? If I become a republican, I can just deny hunger in America.

So I really do understand why people, especially my generation, become republicans. It is easier to be a sheep. Stepford wives only worry about what time he wants dinner. And that is so appealing!

Now where did I leave those tranquilizers?