Family Ties

Life has conspired to keep me from posting, but if I were to be honest I have been avoiding it because I knew I wanted to delve into the personal a bit before segueing into the political. It may not appear this way, but I do try to keep this whole blog adventure on a somewhat non-personal level, but the recent death of my friend's mother and my subsequent experience at the visitation and funeral have made me a bit reflective. So bear with me.

The service was Baptist and in a more rural location. The funeral home that hosted the visitation had several other viewings going on at the same time. It was definitely not my element. The crowd outside the funeral home smoking were a country set to say the least and I was actually a bit uncomfortable and waited to go in until friends showed up. But then a friend, Big T I think it was, made a reference to my father, who most definitely came from a country set. And that got me to thinking on the drive home.

My mom's background was most solidly middle class in a typical 1950s way, at least that is my impression. But my dad's was working class, blue collar poor, no two ways about it. And here I sit in all my WASPy glory conveniently denying that half of my dna is firmly grounded in this working class, poor background. If you were speaking in evolutionary terms, I am merely an amphibian traversing betwixt and between the primordial sludge and dry land. Yet there I was in my skirt and heels looking down my nose at people dressed in jeans and t-shirts, all of us in this place to either mourn or comfort those who are mourning. Frankly, I have no right.

Don't fret, I am bringing this back to the political. So all this self reflection and analysis got me thinking about what parts of ourselves we repress when it comes to political issues—both for the average voters and for those actually running for office. Of course nowadays it is harder than ever to deny bits of your past. In our 24-hour, seven-day a week media world, there is no escaping a camera and a listening ear. The flip side is how much does where we come from influence our political thinking? While there are certainly rich people who are democrats and who want to give back and give a leg up to the poor, there are also plenty of people born to privilege who have no interest in sharing the wealth. And there are people from poorer backgrounds who are solid republicans seemingly unaware that the GOP's tax breaks rarely affect their income.

So what about you? Are there parts of your background that you try to ignore or move past and how has that influenced your political stances?