American politics around a Canadian dinner table.

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:14 pm

We got into the US elections one night last weekend, during my trip home to Halifax. Canadians as a whole overwhelmingly support Kerry over Bush (80%+ last I saw), and most people at the table felt that way too. My step mother is a natural Democrat type and her cosmopolitan friend hates everything Bush stands for. My father was the only holdout, an old school conservative who thought Reagan walked on water. Talking politics with him back in those days is how I got started in the political realm. My brother is also fairly conservative but is passionately against Bush for one reason - stem cell research. My nephew has cystic fibrosis and apparently stem cell research is critical to any realistic chance at finding a way to treat it in the next few decades. Dad allowed that he would have voted for Kerry as well because of that, in spite of believing in the war on terror, the Iraq war and everything else. I wonder how many Americans end up in the same situation.
None of them agreed with my "two sides of the same coin, representing a corrupt and broken system" theme, but I'm used to that. It was interesting, especially after doing so much of my political talk online. It's different face to face.

Asharak · Post by **Asharak** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:59 pm

I wish more people in my family were politically inclined - then maybe I'd have some good anecdotes to share on this topic.

As it is, the word "gerrymander" is pretty much the limit of their political knowledge, especially in regards to American politics.

But I will agree that political discourse is different face-to-face. While my family isn't useful in that regard, I do have a few friends that I argue with periodically, and it's quite a different animal than online debate. Faster, less time to fact-check (or locate), and no annoying links to read through.

- Ash

Faldarian · Post by **Faldarian** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:40 pm

I'll just user a broader North American politics around the American dinner table:

"Paul Martin was meeting with Vincente Fox a few days ago. I'm betting they're saying they've got us cornered and are going to invade."

"Who are they?"