Scenes from an Amish Restaurant in Plain City, OH

Meet Bill. I did, a week or so ago.

We were attending a Walmart Christmas party with Kate's mom (who's been with Wally-World for over 8 years). I had gone to the gathering with much skepticism. To explain that, I have to get one thing out of the way. As a semi-urban liberal, I sometimes have preconceived stereotypes about certain demographic groups. As Bill and his wife sat down across the cafeteria table from us, all of those stupid stereotypes began to roll around in my head. I sized Bill up in two seconds based on his Tony Stewart Home Depot hat, the half unbuttoned dress shirt that was revealing a little too much of his grey chest hair, and most of all, his thick down-home Texas drawl that danced off his tongue when he began talking to us.

Bill was a semi-recent transplant to Central Ohio. He began to comment about how different people are in the Midwest, in comparison to Southeast Texas. "Back in Texas, there was a real sense of community." he said, "You could walk to your neighbors house any time and borrow a stick of butter. Up here, though, people are a little more..." He stopped for a second, trying to retrieve an adjective that best described his point of view.

Kate interjected, "More snobbish?"

"Yeah, that's it. People around here sort of live in their own little worlds. Neighbors don't know each other or even try to get to know each other. I don't think I've ever had one of my neighbors that live in my community stop and just say 'Hi, how are ya doin'? And I'll tell you what, they sure are a lot more liberal."

At this point, we both had an idea of where this conversation may be headed. I had a brief vision of this bat-crazy redneck Texan yelling at us across the table; about how we're out to destroy America and how we should be thanking our lucky stars that a man of Bush's caliber and fortitude was in the Oval Office, protecting us from evil.

Instead, Bill went on about the joys of living so long in Texas. He then followed it up with something profound.

"Well, Texas is the home state of our illustrious president.”

"So, you give him a big thumbs up or a big thumbs down?”

Bill looked at us both kind of wild-eyed, and then proceeded to turn both his thumbs toward the floor.

"Yeah, I'll be giving him two big thumbs down. He spent the better part of eight years screwing up Texas, and now he's well on his way to screwing up the rest of America!"

Kate and I were pretty much in shock. Not so much that someone would say such a thing, but because we both had a preconceived stereotype of whom this guy was, before actually getting to know him. I think this is something that happens more often than not in our society. The far left and the far right have so successfully split American ideology. Or have they?

Meeting Bill was the highlight of the night. He considered himself a Conservative Democrat. In his mid-forties, he had experienced a political landscape in the 60's and 70's that I couldn't really appreciate. Some of his heroes were Nixon and Goldwater, Carter, and Walter Mondale's 84 running mates Lloyd Benson. He was a huge Benson fan. He had voted for Bush 1, then for Ross Perot in 92 and 96. He went into detail about how the Republicans in Texas had attempted to not only economically drain the oil refineries in Southeast Texas, but to also redistrict the areas around those refineries to make the Democrats look bad. He pointed out the ways that the party was using moral value issues to pull the heartstrings of the Christian Right in the state, simply for political gain. He was also extremely disappointed in the liberal spending habits that our POTUS has.

"It will take 50 years,” he said, "To undo what Bush has done economically to this country. And for what? What???"

To give the other side credit, he didn't have many nice things to say about government liberals either. He didn't like Kerry and considered Clinton only slightly more agreeable than Bush.

We sat there for the next two hours, simply discussing politics with someone who, at first glance, I probably would have not even attempted to share an opinion with. Not because I think I'm better or smarter than him. But because, I, like everyone else with a political bias, have preset caricatures drew up as to how people think and behave. I'm not condoning these ways of thinking, as they are wrong. But I am saying that as the political divide between us grows, so does the sense of cynicism and mistrust, as misplaced as that may be.

I think Bill represents something that those in politics rarely consider: the common man. He represents that 80% of Americans that consider themselves moderate. These are the taxpayers, the workers, and the homemakers. They care about the basics, not whether Roe V. Wade will be overturned or if In God We Trust should be taken off of the dollar bill. They simply want a good life, with good employment options. They want to raise their children without fear of high taxes or poor education. They want politicians who represent their constituents, not big business. They want reasonable and affordable health care for their children. They want communities that thrive, yet remain hospitable. They want social programs that work, not waste. They want opportunity for personal achievement and the right to live life without losing their personal freedoms. They want to wave the flag of a country that they can be proud of. Most of all, they want transparency and accountability from their government, at all levels. After all, these are the hands that built America and continue to build her, and they deserve as much.

As Orwell once said: If there is hope, it lies within the proles.