ALL'S FAIR

Frankly, I am appalled by the lack of civility I frequently encounter.  An American proverb states that "All's fair in love and war", but all is NOT fair at the County Fair.

At the Fayette County Fair, I volunteer my time to be at the Democratic Party booth.  The Republicans have a booth on the opposite side of the building from our Democratic booth and the local TEA Party has a booth in the corridor.

When I pass those booths, I do not speak, gesture, or stop. They are there to promote their agenda as we are there to promote ours.  Obviously they are not going to influence my opinion and I know I am not going to change theirs;  thus I view it as a waste of time to have any interaction.  We, however, are greeted with frequent ad hominem remarks from passers-by..  I chalk it up to the lack of proper child-rearing in our county and ignore their ignorance.

This year as my husband Gerald was in the Democratic booth with a fellow Democrat, a man and woman came to the Democratic booth, and in a very obstreperous manner, made denigrating statements about President Obama and Secretary Clinton.

Fortunately, Gerald and the other Democrat conducted themselves in a civilized manner.  When he could not get a rise from Gerald and the other man, the Republican stated that he had $500 in his wallet he was willing to bet about the outcome of the election. Gerald stood, put out his hand, offering to take the bet.  The woman slapped Gerald's hand and began telling her husband not to be betting.  Naturally, Gerald was shocked by the behavior and just shook his head in disbelief.

Witnessing the confrontation, and being alarmed, a woman at a booth catty-corner to the Democratic booth called the Sheriff;   when the Deputy completed his investigation, he informed Gerald that he could file charges of assault,  Of course Gerald refused to do that.  People from the booth across from ours had taped the encounter with their cell phone.  A woman from another booth had taken pictures.and there were other witnesses to the confrontation.

One friend opined that this behavior has been encouraged because of the behavior of the Presidential nominee of their Party.  I disagree because this unwelcome behavior has been evident for a number of years.  Two years ago, a Republican woman who was reported to be "screaming like a fish-wife" (I hate to vilify fish-wives by this comparison, as I actually do not know any fish-wives, but I am merely quoting!) was greeted with a spirited monologue from our friend Vivian.

I refuse to accuse all Republicans as being uncivilized and I am pleased to report that the woman who called the Sheriff is a Republican and she was outraged by the behavior of those people screaming and shouting in the gangway.  The people who were at the booth across from the Democratic booth are also Republicans and they were alarmed by the behavior they witnessed.

We are the minority party in this county with no elected Democratic office-holders and there are twice as many registered Republicans as Democrats.  Our friend John says that the Republicans want to "objectify" us, as they are obviously not being content with holding all the power in our county, they also want to dictate.

NAMASTE!