I really appreciated the warm response to my inaugural post for Meet the Flongs! Only two fellow bloggers expressed an interest in a blog link-up, though, so for now this is just a fun monthly interview series for Belle Brita.
This month, Dan and I answer questions about politics!
What is your earliest political memory?
Dan: I’ve had political memories for as long as I can remember because my family constantly yells and argues over politics. It’s usually over a game of euchre, or, heaven forbid, a game of UNO. My earliest distinct memory of a specific political event was attending a Ron Paul rally in Columbus, Ohio. This was in 2008.
Yes, my memory really is that bad.
Brita: When my family still lived in California, I only remember one thing from the 1992 presidential election. My mom told me that she and my dad had voted differently. She also told me that she regretted her vote, that Dad had voted for the better candidate. I have no idea who voted for whom.
Even at the young age of 5, I learned something from that presidential election. I learned that two people in a relationship do not need to vote the same way. I also learned that it’s possible to learn more information and regret your vote later. Even today, I find great value in people who are willing to change their minds when presented with new information.
If you were elected president, what would be on your agenda for your first 100 days in office?
Dan: I would first call another constitutional convention. I really appreciate all the wisdom and forethought that the founding fathers put into the original Constitution. However, I do realize it needs an update for modern times. I think the Bill of Rights could be expanded, and I think a lot of the language could be updated with input from the vast diversity of Americans today.
The second thing Emperor President Dan would do is throw out the entire tax code. Something everyone would be able to agree upon is the tax code is beyond broken. I personally would propose replacing it with a consumption tax to discourage wasteful spending and encourage saving and investment.
Third, I would change the way we vote. “First past the post” needs to be replaced with something mathematically better that allows the opinions of the nation to be accurately gauged.
Brita: First of all, I would wear a fabulous outfit to my inauguration. I’m sure some journalists would still ask me about my designer, so I would only wear clothing and accessories from ethical brands. Then I would redirect the conversation towards fair-trade wages and the problems with fast fashion.
I would submit a balanced budget to Congress with small cuts to almost everything. (Exceptions would be for highly efficient programs like WIC, SNAP, etc.). I would also encourage legislation to allow government agencies to roll over their budgets to avoid frivolous end-of-year spending.
I would work to update the FBI definition of rape to include forcing someone to penetrate. About 1 in 21 men have experienced this form of sexual assault, but the federal definition of rape does not include this.
Who is your favorite historical political figure? This does not need to be an American!
Dan: William Henry Harrison!
Just kidding.
I really like Grover Cleveland. Not only is he named after a famous character from Sesame Street (I’m allowed to make up facts, right?), he’s the only president so awesome, the American people decided they screwed up by not having him run a second term. He’s the only president to win two terms non-consecutively. How awesome do you have to be to realize the incumbent has a huge advantage, and to win again NOT being the incumbent? In addition to all of that, I also appreciate his focus on small government.
Brita: Queen Elizabeth I, one of the best politicians of all time! She was only the third woman in English history to rule in her own right. AND she did a pretty spectacular job of it, all things considered.
What is one thing that any American can do to improve our political system?
Dan: Don’t let other people tell you who to vote for. Not your friends or your family. Not the media or the polls. Not even Brita’s blog. Voting only works if it reflects your true opinion, even if the way we currently vote makes most votes insignificant.
Brita: Vote in local elections. Yes, the presidential election matters, but so do the presidential primary elections. And local primary elections. And the midterm elections. Not to mention any special election your state might have.
October’s theme will be Autumn! If you’d like to join Dan and me, questions will be:
- What are your favorite scents of autumn?
- How did your family celebrate Halloween when you were growing up?
- Ignoring the calendar, when does it actually feel like autumn where you live?
- What foods do you associate with autumn? Bonus: share a recipe!
If you’re a blogger and want this to be a link-up, let me know. Starting now, I will post these interviews on the last Tuesday of every month. Next one will be October 25th.
How do you feel about politics? Is it a recent interest, or a lifelong passion? Regardless of your political preferences, I’m interested in your political upbringing!
I love this series! Add me to the list of people interested in a potential link-up if you ever do one. Only, don’t ask Crystal who her favorite historical political figure is, because she’ll start belting out Hamilton.
Um, I would love to hear Crystal belting out Hamilton.
I will email you in advance if I turn this into a link-up for next month. I did set the ground work by coming up with questions already. 😉
It’s so funny because I don’t remember my parents EVER talking about politics. It makes me think that maybe they always voted differently and couldn’t agree so they decided never to talk about it? Who knows really. Andrew and I talk about politics all the time. We are pretty closely aligned but I would say I’m more of a socialist than he is even though we both would label ourselves as such.
Politics came up at home even more often once we moved to South Carolina. My dad opened up a law office with another lawyer, who became a family friend. He then went into politics. I spent many election cycles attending political fundraisers and actively campaigning for him!
Dan and I obviously discuss politics all the time. He’s a lot more idealistic than I am, which means he doesn’t always articulate his practical ideas well to people who don’t know to ask him about practical ideas. Like, if you were to discuss politics with him for the first time, he would mostly just tell you his idealistic views, which is frustrating when you think those are his realistic views. Can you tell I have lots of practice in communication and interpretation?
American politics has never been a big part of my family life–and it probably has something to do with growing up overseas that at some points in my life I’ve been a lot more aware of the interesting things happening in China’s, Thailand’s, Malaysia’s, and Indonesia’s governmental scenes than in America’s. Which sounds so bad…but you tend to care more about the things that are right in front of your face. The race riots here are just physically closer than the race riots in America–both matter–but when they happen here is when I have to think about staying home, or avoiding public places when nationalistic feelings are running high, or wondering about the safety of friends who are part of minority groups here. There’s been a lot of interesting drama in the Malaysian government in the past couple years–of course there’s a lot of drama in the American government, too–there’s a lot of interesting countries in this world to learn about.
Hey, that makes total sense to me. When I lived in France, I knew way more about French politics than US politics.
I still want it to be a link up! And I will try to join you next month whether it’s a link up or not. 🙂
Thanks for the vote! I’ll send out an email next month in advance of this.
This is so cute, and I love the name “Meet the Flongs.” 😉 It’s so interesting to hear how politics have influenced (or not) someone’s life. For me, my earliest memory is the 2000 election. I was in the 5th grade and we had to split up into different groups and talk about why we supported a certain candidate. I think it really opened my eyes to the whole process, especially the hanging chad debacle, even though I didn’t really grasp it at the time. Once I went to high school my 9th grade geography teacher decided our final exam was going to be a paper and a Model UN style debate. After that, I got really into Model UN and the rest is history! (well, not really, but my comment is already long enough haha!)
Oh, I’m so jealous you did Model UN! Our school offered Mock Trial my freshman and sophomore year, but we lost our teacher sponsor after that. I would have loved to try Model UN.
Really enjoyed this format of blogpost. Interesting to hear how politics has taken up space in our lives differently and with different impacts on our political choices as adults. Looking forward to the next post!
Thank you! I used to join a monthly blog link-up for women who interviewed their SOs. When that ended, I decided to start my own series of interviews with my husband and me. Next month I might turn it into a blog link-up for anyone who wants to answer the questions.
This is such a fun series! I bet it gives you a chance to learn a little about each other as well. 🙂
It does! I couldn’t believe Dan’s earliest specific political memory was just from 2008. But he’s always told me I have a better memory than he does.