What I learned from walking around one of the most conservative areas in the U.S. with an Obama mask and sign.

Living in one of the most conservative areas in the country, it can get very annoying sometimes for the liberals like me. Walking around my neighborhood and all the surrounding areas you notice hundreds and hundreds of McCain/Palin signs, in contrast to the 3 Obama signs in my neighborhood (one of which is mine). When I walk into my high school wearing my Obama shirts with my Obama pins and stickers on my backpack and I get an array of hateful comments, it can get even more annoying. One thing I have learned though, is the constant feeling of disdain I get from the residents around here only makes me want to stand up and support Obama more. The worst criticisms I get of Obama generally though are as follows:
1. He's a muslim!
2. He's not even a United States citizen!
3. He wants to raise my taxes!
4. He's black!

Of course, all of the above are absolutely asinine and make me frustrated beyond words, to the point where I cannot engage in an intelligent conversation with anyone because of their sheer ignorance and bigotry. However, I find that when I do actually get into an intelligent discussion (well, slightly), that the people here are so uneducated it's not even funny, it's actually quite scary that these are the people electing the most important man in the United States. People tell me they like John McCain because he's a peaceful man, and because he's going to cut their taxes, and because he loves God when Barack isn't even a Christian. After informing people that John McCain's whole career is wrapped up in military and how he makes ditties about bombing Iran and talks of "further wars", and how you can't cut taxes when we have a 10 trillion dollar debt and how his plan of cutting earmarks only accounts for 18 billion dollars a year, or how Barack is in fact a Christian and even if he isn't that it should have nothing to do with politics, because whether he be Muslim or Christian, he is still just as capable of leading the country. After all of this, there have been several times where I have actually swayed people into supporting Obama and completely changed their mind about this election. But still, I get so pissed off by the bigotry and the neocons around here that I had to speak out even more. So, what did I do? I walked down the busiest road around here during rush hour with a Barack Obama mask on waving my Obama sign. This road serves thousands and thousands in just the one hour that I was out there, so you can assume it was a pretty interesting experience, here's what I got:

1. A couple of "fuck you's!".
2. A few "Fuck Obamas."
3. Probably a hundred middle fingers, several from old couples that you would not expect.
4. One man swerving his car within a few feet of me.
5. One man telling me to take my mask off, so I did, then asking me why I supported Barack, (this was at a stoplight with about 100 cars behind him), to which I shouted "This election is historic and important, and Barack is the only person capable of pulling us out of the hole the Bush Administration dug us into, and John McCain's failed policies will do nothing but dig us even deeper." To which the man looked shocked and drove off.
6. One man telling me I was going to get shot.

So as you can see, a LARGE amount of negative feedback.

But I kept my cool, if people flicked me off, I waved, if people yelled at me, I waved my sign higher, but what surprised me, is the amount of positive support I got. Of course it can't compete with the negative, but there was a considerable amount.

1. Several honks and thumbs up.
2. Several people yelling Obama and waving.
3. Several more things yelled like "Right on Bro" and Obama 08'!
4. Several peace signs and smiles.

The thing is, ALL of this support was from the 20-30 year old crowd. Texas was once a blue state about 20-30 years ago, but as everyone knows has turned into an extremely conservative state. Yet what I find, is the large majority of the conservative base is old men and women who don't even follow the news, and the young family members of these old people. I really think that once these old people aren't around anymore, Texas will once again be a blue state, and I think this applies to the whole country. If the young liberals like me and the thousands of others around here will make an effort to actually get these conservatives to read and follow what will soon affect them more than anything, than we can literally turn into a liberal nation. I honestly think that in 20, maybe 30 years, this will be a blue nation. Yet at this point, we must do all we can to one day get it that way. Those of you that are scared around here to speak out, please don't be, speak up and let your voice be heard. As Gandhi once said, "We must become the change we want to see in the world.", speak up and don't be afraid, maybe if we all join together we can actually move forward in this country and rid ourselves of the conservative bigotry that has plagued us for some time now.