Voting Trump out of Love

I canvassed in Maine today, two days before the election. Global Warming meant that the trees still carried their fall radiance. I drove up on my own, because I couldn’t manage to convince any of my Boston friends to join me. After I picked up my terf and parked my car by an abandoned physical therapy practice, I was so anxious to start canvassing I had to take a hit from my dugout to get out of the car.

I walked about 5 miles today, and hit 30 houses, in an area of comfortably sized yards, and much empty space between.

Most people were home, so I got many decent conversations, but of all the folks I met, the one I’ll remember was Nancy.

Before I approach houses I canvass, I read through the history of contacts the campaign has had with the folks inside, because people are not just checkboxes. Nancy showed up on my list apparently because a few months ago, she was undecided. I walk up her driveway, knock, and Nancy comes out immediately.

Nancy informs me she is voting Trump. Why? I press to find her issue, everybody has their issue. Nancy’s reason for voting for Trump is that her daughter is a single mother, living in Texas, 2200 miles away. Working for Exxon in IT. Nancy says that if Biden wins, her daughter will lose her job, and not be able to care for her grand-daughter.

I present that Texas is a great area for renewables, and that renewables employ double the workers as oil now, especially in IT. Nancy acknowledges this truth. I ask if she believes in global warming, she does. Nancy says that she can tell that each year the temperatures are warmer in Lewiston, and, although she doesn’t vote for the bills or the people who write and vote for them, she hopes that the Green New Deal passes.

Nancy justifies this by saying that while she wants to see global warming addressed by the government, she doesn’t want to vote for fixing global warming. Her daughter is half way across the country, and from such a far distance, voting for Trump against her deep convictions is how Nancy cares for her own.

I can’t argue with that.

Written on November 1, 2020