Past is Prologue (modified)

I come from an extremely small town in Western PA. We have a single stoplight at the junction of two state roads, and a blinking light to warn of a blind spot on a busy road. That's it. There is a DQ, and 7-11, and a handful of small businesses. It's no Mayberry - well, maybe a grungier, redneck Mayberry. Many of the residents are former steel workers, at least a generation removed from their farming ancestors.
I graduated with 86 people in my class. Our high school has grade levels 8-12, with no A/P classes and virtually no options to explore ideas, activities or fields (with the exception of Home Ec and Shop classes I guess). There was an uproar when I was a junior I believe because they were restricting who could take Chemistry II. You had to be in the gifted program. Many of us had taken Chem I, did well, were college bound and wanted Chem II but were told no. Why would educator say no to kids who are eager to learn? Why hold us back like that? It's beyond me. I had two teachers that were wonderful. My biology teacher really prepared me for college work, and our English teacher was extremely difficult but taught me a ton (She made me actually like diagramming sentences!). I could fill another blog on the other teachers and their less than stellar teaching.

Needless to say I was in for a culture shock going to college, in a "city." (Well, Erie is technically PA's 3rd largest city though by most standards it's tiny. My college was downtown though and it was still drastically different than my little town.) I went to a small Catholic college and continued along a pretty conservative path.
Senior year I had an honors class with a Jesuit priest. He'd been an activist for pacifism for decades. Our class was essentially critical thinking - that's it. How awesome is a class that just wants you to think . . . think critically, think outside the box, think for yourself, THINK. Father Susa changed me. I did start thinking. I started to become the Shannon all of you know. I took my Catholic upbringing and used that sense of right and wrong to think about the world.
Surprisingly (well, to me then - not to me now) I ended up moving farther and farther from conservative politics. I was seeing the conservative message in our government not mirroring the Christan teachings I'd been raised with. As I neared my first "real" presidential election, I was really torn. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time I could not vote for the lesser of what I thought were two evils so I voted 3rd party. Ugh. So my vote helped OH go to Bush because I voted for Nader. And pair that with the state of FL handed to him by his cronies, and ouch we have the last 8 years of horror.
This election had farther reaching effects than forcing me to be more aware about politics, the politicians, and the decisions I make regarding them. Seeing the family values tour of the Bush Administration made me question Christianity.

I was very active in the 2004 campaign. I was shocked that Bush was re-elected. I didn't understand how his lies, ENORMOUS government (and debt), and destruction of our constitution was okay with so many people. My mom said 'you can't change presidents in the middle of a war.' Well, since we didn't we still have a war now and guess what - we're changing presidents one way or another. Yes we can! :) It's amazing how Change, which has been the cornerstone of Obama's platform since the very beginning, has now been adopted by McCain. Hmmm.
Last night I watched the Biden/Palin debate. I have to say I'm insulted by Palin. They call Obama an elitist but I find Palin and her group the same. They look down their noses on those of us who worked hard to educate ourselves. Maybe we really like to learn, really like school, or simply followed the rules our parents put forth and continued with our education. Again, I'm brought back to my small town where it was deemed the right thing to do to keep students from learning and advancing by denying them opportunities. I guess then the fact that our schools rank so low compared to other countries isn't a big selling point for the Palin fans. Who needs education!?!?
Sometimes I feel like common sense no longer exists.
Rich Republicans call Democrats elitist. People using government programs vote for the party that will reduce or remove those programs. People in favor of a small government and fiscal responsibility create the largest government & debt ever. Christians traditionally vote Red, a party that breaks the commandments AND wallows in the seven deadly sins . . . not to mention their complete disregard of the greatest commandment. Love your neighbors as yourself.

I had not planned to end the original blog in such an angry and Palin (vague) manner. And my issue here isn't actually with common sense. I'm really confused and upset over the idea that education is not good. That education makes you an elitest who thinks you are better than others. I resent that. And I don't understand why we want our president to be Joe Sixpack. Do we want our doctors to also be Joe Sixpack?
I used to naively think these politicans were just crazy. I knew no Joe Sixpacks who hated educated people or education in general. But then I realized not only did I know them I was related to them. A few years ago I responded to a political email (one of those forwards) that was sent to all my family from a family member. While the email was mean spirited, I didn't take it that the sender was and neither was my response. I simply said, hey! I fit most of those catgories guys. The response I got (not from the sender) was vicious. I was attacked in part for being educated. What? I was floored. My attacker was really blood related to me? Did they not realize I was following a rule set by their sibling, my parent?
So I don't take kindly to being made to believe as an educated person I am an elitist, that I look down on people, that I want my government to tax everyone to within an inch of their life. I care about my family, my friends, my neighbors, my fellow citizens . . . of the world. I only want to see people everyday people like my friends, family, coworkers and neighbors get what they need and have a chance at their idea of the American dream. Every single Democrat I've ever met shares those ideals.