Schism of Thought

D2's friend Ben's father has been in politics for over 30 years. He currently has a very high position in the national Democratic Party. At a dinner at his house a few months ago, he told me that the divisions in US government are deeper than he's ever seen.

It used to be that even Tip O'Neill and Newt Gingrich, ideological opposites, could get together and agree. These days, apparently, they can't even agree on lunch.

It's not surprising. Even within my family, there are such deep divisions of thought...and we were all raised the same.

Last Thursday, my long time waitress Lori's husband came over to fix a broken ac unit. It's the unit that cools my man cave, and with football season right around the corner, I attended to the repair with great alacrity. The beer in the fridge is cold, and I have a new microfiber couch ready for the game watching; the working ac is essential!

So Sean came over. He's truly a bear of a guy, and took over his Dad's ac business 7 years ago. He looked at the compressor, and removed a part, and said he'd found the problem: a blown capacitor.

He had a spare, changed it out, and had me turn on the unit. Voila! It worked fine.

I invited Sean in, and we stepped over Wifey, who was working out on the family room floor. He looked around. "Nice house," he said. Uh oh. That was code for "Here comes a high bill.

I asked him the amount. "Oh, make it for $275 -- I won't charge you tax."

I realized it was high, but paid. I thought, well, maybe the capacitor costs over $100, and he knows I know his wife well, so he wouldn't rip me off.

Yes he would, of course. Shame on me. I called another company, and learned the part cost them $25, they charge $40 for it, and the repair would cost between $125 and $150. When I told them I was charged $275, they told me to call the police...

Ha. They don't know me. In my passive agressive way, I will more than get even with Sean...he will NEVER work for anyone I know, and what he did WILL cost him much more than the money he ripped me off for...

But that's not the interesting part of the tale.

When I reported this to my California sister, her response was "Well, that's ok. The ac man was Robin Hood. His wife works as a deli waitress; yours works not at all. You live in a palace. He did a good thing, just redistributed some wealth..."

She was serious. I tried to protest that I give to charity, that I over tip his wife Lori, but my sister had none of it. She truly saw nothing wrong with Sean's overcharging me.

And so it is. Withing a single family, a simple issue is seen so differently by 2 siblings.

Does the US have any chance of moving forward?

Luckily, the Republicans will never nominate a moderate, so I'll be forced to vote for Obama again. The Tea Party idiots will keep guys like Huntsman out of the game...

OTherwise, if, say, a Rudy Giuliani made it through, I'd have to vote for what I've become: a rich guy who doesn't want to get ripped off...