{"id":608,"date":"2016-12-09T20:42:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T03:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=608"},"modified":"2017-01-03T20:41:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T03:41:44","slug":"how-do-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=608","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Our last forum was for students at the university. We had forums in small towns, two in the city, at a Christian college, and a call-in radio session (not a one in Benewah County). Forums are not really debates; there is little back and forth, (even this time<\/a>) and most of the folks in the audience have made up their minds before coming, so little persuasion occurs, maybe some. There is usually a minute or two to introduce yourself, then a question is posed with a one minute response limit. Most candidates sound the same when they are talking political-speak, so we get to know their canned responses. But I really enjoy them. I think they are a good time to get to know ones opponent, as well as the other candidates for office. I will admit, I have changed my mind on some votes after hearing candidates talk. Maybe I\u2019m jaded.<\/p>\n

After the closing remarks at the student forum, the many thanks and applause, I got up to retrieve my unclaimed literature on the back table, but a young man came up to me with a purpose. He introduced himself politely and said \u201cI\u2019m a senator too, for the student body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations,\u201d I offered. \u201cDo you guys get name tags too?\u201d I teased him, showing mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh, yeah. But mine looks better than that one.\u201d He laughed. Then he tilted his head to the side and asked, \u201cCan I ask you a question?\u201d as he walked out of earshot of the others chatting. I followed him over.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m a Republican\u2026\u201d he began slowly.<\/p>\n

I smiled. \u201cHow do you know?\u201d He looked at me quizzically. I continued, \u201cI thought your generation didn\u2019t buy the party affiliation thing, so I\u2019m trying to understand how you know you are a Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled and laughed a bit. \u201cI just do.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pondered. \u201cSo it\u2019s kind of like being gay then?\u201d He frowned. \u201cI\u2019m not saying you\u2019re gay. But that\u2019s the answer I get from gay folks when I ask them how they know they are gay. They say they \u201cjust know\u201d like you said you know you are Republican; like you were born Republican.\u201d He laughs and shakes his head; I don\u2019t think he blushed. \u201cSo what\u2019s your question?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOK,\u201d he continues, \u201cSo I\u2019m a Republican and I need you to tell me why I should vote for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s easy.\u201d I say \u201cBecause I\u2019m the best candidate. I\u2019ve taken courageous stands<\/a>, I\u2019ve shown vision, I see the problems our state faces<\/a> and I work hard<\/a> to address them. I can give you a long list of examples, from fighting government mishandling of the taxpayers money to showing stupid policies we hold onto. Do you need specific examples?\u201d He slightly shook his head, but he was frowning. \u201cSo can I count on your vote?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll think about it\u2026\u201d he demurred and walked away. He couldn\u2019t leave the herd either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our last forum was for students at the university. We had forums in small towns, two in the city, at a Christian college, and a call-in radio session (not a one in Benewah County). Forums are not really debates; there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}