Since then, he’s asked other questions.
Like, why does his dad all of a sudden
have a disdain for the World Health
Organization when before COVID he had
never had a problem with it? Or why can’t
people and small towns use their critical
thinking skills to unravel themselves from
the chains of conservative talk radio?
Growing up in Three Rivers, Michigan,
my dad’s town was racially diverse and
was dominated by a blue-collar, working-
class attitude. It stemmed from the
presence of the United Auto Workers
Union, which his grandfather was involved
in. Three Rivers wasn’t necessarily left-
leaning, but the union presence created
a Democratic voter bloc. But politics were
never talked about.
Even when he went to college at
Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois,
politics were never talked about. He didn’t
know the ways that a lot of his friends and
family leaned until Donald Trump.
“We had no phones,” he said. “There
was no social media. Politics were never
even really discussed. I didn’t know if any
of my friends were progressive or not.”
His first time voting was for Clinton in
1992, when he was a senior in college. It
was an exciting time for Democrats after eight years of Ronald Reagan and
four years of George H.W. Bush. But my
dad’s main focus was on college, unlike
now, where my generation’s main focuses
are college and the anxiety-inducing,
upcoming presidency of Trump.
“It’s a lot more politically charged now
than it was back then,” dad said. “People
weren’t nuts like they are now. I didn’t
know any of my friends were progressive
or not. I just thought we were all the same.”
Now, he’s well aware that the political
alignment he thought was there simply
isn’t, specifically within our family.
“To think that I was brought up and
taught certain morals and values and
beliefs that not everybody in my family
apparently holds, it’s heartbreaking,” he
said.
He attributes these differing beliefs
partially to his undergraduate education,
where he studied economics, but also to
the conservative, religious talk radio that
pushes misinformation to conservative-leaning, rural communities like those his
family lives in.
“Rush Limbaugh pretty much started it,
and that’s what everybody in small towns
hears,” he said. “All they got was either
religion or conservative radio. Even to this
day, if you drive from Kansas to Michigan,
that’s all you hear on the radio.”
My dad has since been able to escape
the small-town, conservative bubble.
Growing up, he says people used to
define themselves politically as “socially
liberal but fiscally conservative.” Now, he
doesn’t see that making any sense.
“The last time we had a balanced budget
was with Bill Clinton, who was a Democrat.
And you know there hasn’t been a
Republican president that has lowered
the deficit in our lifetime. So, you’re not
really a good fiscal conservative.”