Saturday, January 12, 2008

Local Politics

I received a robocall this week from my US Congresswoman about a town hall meeting today on the subject of property taxes. As you can probably tell, I have a interest in politics, so I went.

As someone who voted for Ms. Gillibrand, it seemed to me that this meeting was really just a chance for her to show her face in the area and get some of her views on the table. Clearly a US Congressperson has very little to do with property taxes and she admitted as much. Basically she spoke for about 10-15 minutes, introduced a couple of "tax experts" and then let the voters complain, some more eloquently than others. And then it was over.

The most interesting moment of the whole day was before the meeting even began. I arrived a little early and sat in the back row. An old timer who needed a bath sat next to me right away and started jawing.

Soon enough he said to me, "See that woman over there."
"Yes I do."
"She's not a woman. She's a man."

Sure enough, my smelly seatmate was correct. The 65 ish year old cross dresser was not trying too hard. Just a Reddish brown wig and some Jackie O glasses. He sat next down next to my new friend and it was clear they knew each other as they began chatting about some engine work Jackie O had done recently. I found the whole thing sort of comforting. Here was an old codger who was certainly amused by Jackie O but clearly had a friendly relationship with him. Progress in tolerance can be measured in the strangest ways.

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