Notes from a Dreaded Republican

I started this blog to chronicle my journey to understanding about dreadlocks:  why people get them, why they keep them, their advantages and disadvantages.  I named it "Dread Like Me" in the spirit of Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin's groundbreaking book about how a white man learned what it was like to be black in the South in the 1950s.  I expected that people would start to look at me differently (or want to take pictures of the back of my head).

People are looking at me differently - but not at all in the way I'd expect.

In my little village, we've got hippies, musicians, academics, activists, environmentalists; overall it's a very engaged community which has shifted in the last twenty years from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic bastion. I've been one of the few Republicans for several years, holding to the belief that the truly core Republican principles (personal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, a nation governed by laws) can exist without hatred, bigotry, and cruelty.

Posing with the plane my father worked on.

If anything, I expected that my dreadlocks would lead me to be completely dismissed by the party faithful, but instead, they asked me to run for Ulster County Legislature.

I can now see the wisdom of their choice.  It's been a long time since trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt created the first national park, and a lot of intelligent people dismiss the idea that a Republican can actually care about real people anymore.  Wearing my locks, I send a clear message:  think again. Because I look so very different, closed minds open up a little bit, and I can actually share my ideas.

Ideas like taking the green-collar economy seriously for a change.  Better-paying jobs with an environmental focus can reduce the 7.7% unemployment rate in the county, even while preserving the pristine beauty which drives tourism.

Ideas like taking care of veterans, senior citizens, and kids, because it's the right thing to do. My father was a veteran, and he was ashamed at how poorly his combat brethren were treated.  Aging is the universal equalizer, and sidelining people once their bodies and minds begin to fail isn't a value I embrace.  Children are literally our future, and we relegate them to the crumbs after we pay for other programs.

Not all Republicans are scary, but some of them are definitely dreaded.