Jack gets in almost in time for his Wednesday guest post – –

It seems that all over the world populist politicians have discovered the thing that others did in the 1930s or earlier.

But on Tuesday Wendy and I discovered something else –

We volunteered to hand out Democrat flyers and sample voting forms to folk as they arrived to vote at the local High School here in town. We started at 3pm and were due to continue until 7pm when the vote would close.

We arrived and were given our package of stuff and began welcoming folk as they approached. Another couple of folk were doing the same thing off to the side of us, for the Republicans – –

It was cold, miserable and raining. We shared umbrellas with our Republican compadres and chatted. Like most small towns in the US there’s a mix of ‘old families’ and newcomers. We discovered that the older guy was about to retire as a power line maintenance middle manager and move to North Carolina. His colleague was a first-time volunteer who had recently moved from California. In short order we shared a lot about each other as we continued to hand out our stuff. We didn’t talk about politics and it seemed there was no need to.

As people arrived and walked up towards us it was a mixed bag about being able to tell which way they might vote; they were young and old and some were even first time voters. Some of those wearing Trump hats or tee shirts joked with us, but only a few guys (and they were all guys) were threatening, and our new friends moved them on.

But then just 30 minutes before the polls closed along came someone else. Not a voter but a very serious Trump enthusiast. She had a loud voice which meant I discovered that she, like me, is 82 years old. Turning her back on us she took control of the  Republican team and just in case they didn’t understand explained that we, and all our kind, were the spawn of Satan. She continued to explain to no-one except us that God, Jesus and Trump were in combination the saviors of America. Finally the mean one went to her car to get something and Wendy asked the older man if he really believed she (Wendy) couldn’t be a Christian and a Democrat.

Yes, he did.

Bur we wish our friends well in their new lives and we’re glad we helped each other to survive those cold, wet and miserable 4 hours.

Democracy in action.