As a political and journalistic experiment, I decided to see how people who live in primarily one-party areas would react when faced with a living, breathing member of the opposition. I appointed myself an ambassador to bridge the Red-Blue divide and ventured into each side's territory dressed in the T-shirt, campaign button, and tote bag of the other. (A baseball cap, I decided, pushed the ensemble one step over the line, making me look a raving nut about to start yelling obscenities.)
Anybody who thinks a 'gimme cap' is part of an 'ensemble' is definitely going to be carrying a 'tote bag'!
In my Kerry-Edwards shirt, I enter Red America certain that I am on the verge of inciting to rage a gang of angry yachtsmen who would soon be strapping me and my lefty leisurewear to their mizzenmast. Instead, I encounter only shades of indifference—head shaking, "crazy idiot" expressions from older, very wealthy, very white folks in Newport Beach.
Driving home, I rip off my Bush-Cheney shirt so I can walk the streets of my neighborhood unjeered at and without terrifying little children. Reflecting on the sting of being called "asshole" during my travels through Blue America, I wonder: If I were truly a Bush supporter, how long would I be able to endure a life filled with epithets before I gave up on the shirt? Changing into a nonpartisan brown Gap polo, I breathe a sigh of relief that I will never have to find out.
This guy better be damn thankful he lives in L.A. and not somewhere people would really give a shit which candidate's apparel he wears. The 'tote bag' alone would get him punched out in some 'red' states!
I wear a "Veterans For Kerry" button on my ball cap, and no one has ever said anything other than to agree and express their support. Maybe it's because it's on a "United States Marine Corps" cap. Maybe they're afraid I'll nut up on 'em if they diss Kerry or call me a name. Maybe they're right.
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