• articles >
• MisterGuy

MisterGuy

Rhode Island

<span style="font-size: larger"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">...when I was 12 years-old.&nbsp; It was 1984, and I was in civics class.&nbsp; Do they even have those kind of classes anymore?&nbsp; Our teacher actually worked part-time as a nighttime deli meat slicer at a local supermarket to make ends meet.&nbsp; He really didn't do that great a job teaching, since he was kind of lazy and didn't really care too much.&nbsp; I once got into a fight with another kid in class after the teacher had left early to go to lunch...before the lunch bell even rang.&nbsp; <br />
<br />
Anways, our teacher had photocopied the actual general election ballot for our city and handed out a bunch of copies to us all.&nbsp; They had old-time voting machines in my city back then with those levers that you actually had to pull to vote for a candidate.&nbsp; There was one master lever at the top that you could pull to vote a straight party ticket as well.&nbsp; <br />
<br />
This one kid across from me (I forget his name but he was some tall, blonde kid whose mom was a Democratic school committee member) just checked off the box to vote a straight Democratic ticket.&nbsp; He was all proud of himself, and he decided to show us all how quick he was done voting.&nbsp; I remember thinking (and maybe even saying to him) that was a strange way to vote.&nbsp; Now, I almost never vote for Republicans, but anyways...<br />
<br />
So, we all voted in a mock election, and our teacher totaled the votes.&nbsp; I think Reagan won the class, and he ended up winning almost every state in the country too in the real election that year.<br />
<br />
That night, my Mom,&nbsp;Dad, and I went out to Woolworth's (a small department store chain) to do some shopping.&nbsp; We were having a typical &quot;what did you do at school today?&quot; conversation, and I told them about the mock election that we had.&nbsp; My parents asked me who I had voted for.&nbsp; So I started telling them, &quot;Well, I voted for Reagan and...&quot;<br />
<br />
Both my parents wheeled around in the parking lot as we were heading towards the store, &quot;You did what?!?!&quot;<br />
<br />
&quot;I voted for Reagan...all the kids did.&quot;, which was true, and, since I didn't know any better at the time, so did I.<br />
<br />
&quot;Get back to the car and stay there!&quot;, my Dad yelled at me.&nbsp; So I had to stay in the car the entire time that they were in the store that night.<br />
<br />
They both couldn't believe that I had voted for Reagan.&nbsp; They were both big Democrats at the time, and neither could stand Reagan.&nbsp; Now my Dad talks about how great he was, but that's just cuz he went off the deep end in 1988.&nbsp; My Mom always says, &quot;They fooled me once, but never again.&quot;&nbsp; She voted for Nixon (as I think a lot of young kids did back then cuz he was in favor of having 18-20 year-olds vote I guess), and she always regretted it.&nbsp; <br />
<br />
Now, imagine if everyone's parents had disciplined their kids for voting for Reagan...&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="/editor/images/smiley/msn/teeth_smile.gif" /><br />
</span></span>