I spent Tuesday handing out sample ballots in my district. I was gonna be there all day with only a 2-hour break. Several people cycled through the other tent, and I spent some time talking with each of them.

Are there those who don’t believe anything they didn’t hear on CNN first? Yes – in numbers.
Are there those who radiate arrogance and a false air of superiority? Yes
Are there those who would stand in their burning living room and deny their house was on fire? Yes.

There was a referendum on the ballot to rein in control of the School Board by making it an appointed board. The referendum was triggered by significant financial malfeasance, resulting in substantial property tax increases.

Yet, I heard some of these people blame the Board of Supervisors for the increase in property taxes (that is a total lack of understanding of how the system works). I heard insane attempts at defending the School Board. Having been somewhat immersed in the problem the past few years, I’m aware of exactly where the problem lives. If one individual had stepped down from the School Board several years ago, the referendum wouldn’t have come up.

In a community where School Board members run unopposed nearly 80 percent of the time, I heard, “I don’t want to give up my voting rights.” Err, um… my rubber stamp.

I interacted with those who had read the Democrat talking point training material. An exception renders a point invalid. Dual realities can’t exist, and so on.

One of my Democrat counterparts asked why we didn’t mark a suggestion on our sample ballot for the referendum. My answer was that it would be unethical to divide opinions on party lines for a non-partisan issue. The discussion went silent.

In a larger context, my side, my team, played it poorly.

I’ll use this referendum as an example of how errors were made.
In the beginning, a group of supporters of the referendum, Republicans, gathered to address how to collect signatures. Didn’t invite a single Democrat. It was a non-partisan referendum – one would think. Further, and by way of advertising and letters to the editor, the group continued to make it partisan.

Democratic teachers supported the referendum at personal risk. But those who weren’t paying attention defaulted to “If the Republicans came up with it, I’m opposed to it.” The word Republican is interchangeable with Democrat here.

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t make universally applicable concerns partisan if doing so is avoidable.

That last bit is the root of the problem in America. Neither side is comfortable with an idea from the other side. It’s a fact. And, perhaps, for good reason. How we got here is a huge discussion that I’ll save for later. Based on Tuesday’s experience, the idea, locally, of working with Democrats is more offensive to Republicans than working with Republicans is to Democrats, though neither side likes the idea. Perhaps justified. Why would I say that? I had occasion to talk to a couple of guys from the local Democratic committee. The discussion was about a problem both local Democrats and Republicans should be concerned about. The problem? The largest employer in the community is under political attack from a group that neither side supports.

As a JFK Democrat (a Republican), I am loath to dismiss, out of hand, someone whose life experience is predictably different than mine (to include what news sources are trusted sources).

In our community, we don’t have a strong business environment. Jobs are scarce, and those that are available are usually not the type one would build a career out of. So, when taxes go up, it sucks – a lot. If we lost our largest employer, it would suck a lot more. In this case, it doesn’t matter why both sides agree, only that they do.

I will disagree with the majority of today’s Democrat dogma to my dying day. But I’ll listen to them. To do otherwise would be like driving at night with one headlight. That said, I will go full-on Charlie with them whenever possible.

I could go on writing about this for days – I won’t. But I have a bipartisan message for America and my local community:

Grow up, wise up, and pay attention. Research. Avoid multi-billion-dollar media outlets. Participate outside of echo chambers. Make your beliefs your own. Just because someone says something doesn’t make it so, unless they have verifiable receipts.