Posted by
MarkJ on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 7:30:21 PM
Yesterday I received a letter that opened with "Dear Fellow Democrat....". It was from Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat congressman from Maryland's 8th district. He is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and he wanted my help in ensuring the Democrats maintain their majority in the House and prevent the Republicans from regaining their "stranglehold."
I couldn't figure out how Rep. Van Hollen determined I was a Democrat. I live in Washington State, which, at least when I registered to vote some years ago, was one of the few states (if indeed there are any other) that does NOT ask for party affiliation when a voter registers. Therefore, there is no record anywhere of me belonging to any party, be it Democrat, Republican, or Socialist Workers.
Rep. Van Hollen (who, by the way, looks like a nice guy going by his picture on his Wikipedia entry) proceeded to talk about the great progress the House has made since the Dems took power--improving ethics, raising the minimum wage, etc. etc. He also went on at length on the evils of the Bush administration and its failed Iraq policy, and how the dastardly man has actually vetoed important legislation. He wound up, of course, with a pitch for money to help increase the Democratic majority in the House next year (funny how he didn't call it a "stranglehold").
Well, I took exception to the arrogant assumption that I was a fellow Democrat (dear or otherwise). In any case, it's also a rather dubious assumption given that my congressional district (Washington's 4th, represented by Doc Hastings, R, since 1995) is very conservative. Even when we've had a Democratic representative (the last one was Doc's predecessor, Jay Inslee, who now represents Washington's 1st Congressional district) the guy's been fairly conservative, primarily being strongly pro-nuclear, an important consideration in an area built on the Manhattan Project.. (Totally off-topic aside....Doc, Jay, and I all have birthdays within three days of each other.) Inslee, however, did lose his re-election bid in part because of his vote to ban semi-automatic firearms, which serves to prove my point--this is a conservative area and assuming someone is a "fellow Democrat (dear or otherwise) without any supporting evidence is dubious.
Well, I could have thrown that letter away, along with its postage-paid return envelope, but that would be no fun. So, I wrote a letter back to Rep. Van Hollen (another useless aside...we both have red hair, at least going by his picture on Wikipedia) detailing my Presidential voting history (Ford, Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush), my senatorial voting record (last Democrat was Scoop Jackson, who would probably be run out of the party now), etc. I suggested that both he and I would be happier if my name was dropped from his mailing list. I mentioned that although I once voted for a Democrat for Congress (yes, Jay Inslee, curse me forever), I'd only vote for one now if the Republicans nominated Joseph Stalin. Finally, I did agree to compensate the DCCC for its postage....I put about 40 pennies in the envelope, and mailed it back. At their expense, of course.
I sure feel good today.