Guest post by Sonny Palermo
In the past, I shrugged off my right to vote due to my disdain for politicians, joking that “It only encourages them to run.” To my way of thinking, it didn’t matter which party was in office – Republican or Democrat – my life would not be changed. At the end of the year I may have a few dollars more or less in my pockets, but overall my world was not greatly affected.
But I can no longer remain ambivalent about my right to vote. After spending most of 2008 and 2009 in Vancouver, BC, I returned to a country that I don’t even recognize. Too many of my friends and family are out of work. Too many of the principles that made America great are being eradicated by the current administration. The first two years of Obamanation have been a disaster. Two more years of this socialist takeover and the damage may be irreversible. So this year, I vote.
Last week, while having lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas, a woman walked in who looked like Sharron Angle. She was accompanied by only one person, and I thought, “Can’t be her, she would have more people around her.” Then I saw her smile that Chesire Cat grin and I knew it was her. More people arrived and joined her party as the restaurant scrambled to put tables together to accommodate them. Other diners began to ask to have their pictures taken with her, and she obliged.
As I was getting ready to leave, her husband walked past my table and I motioned him to come over for a minute. I told him I had just driven across the country from NJ to vote for Sharron, and I wished them success in the campaign. He wanted to call Sharron over but I stopped him, saying I didn’t want to interrupt her lunch. He said, “No, please, she is going to want to hear this” and he asked me to wait while he brought her over. When they approached, he asked, “Tell her what you just told me.”
And here’s the weird part – completely unexpected, totally out of nowhere, I was hit with a wave of patriotism like I had never felt before, and my voice faltered for a second. I came here to help her campaign and suddenly here I was, face to face with the woman who may very well be in the most important race of the midterms, the woman who is poised to remove one head of the hydra that is Obama-Reid-Pelosi. I told her I came all the way here from NJ, to vote for the very first time in my life. To vote for her.
And . . . she hugged me.
After I got over the initial shock I realized – this is the woman the left has smeared as “extreme and dangerous?”
Yeah, sure. Extremely grandmotherly, maybe.
Sharron and Ted Angle stayed with me for about five minutes, discussing politics and policy. She said part of the reason she made the decision to run for the senate was the same reason I was going to become a first time voter – she found that our country was becoming unrecognizable, and much of the fault lay with Harry Reid, architect of the Cornhusker kickback and all the backroom deals contrived to pass the calamitous Obamacare, and purveyor of the failed two billion dollar stimulus plan.
The Angles were gracious and kind, and Sharron was passionate about the issues affecting our country at this most unique moment in history. Before parting, I vowed to volunteer some of my time to work at their campaign headquarters, and they offered heartfelt thanks.
They left, after expressing gratitude to me for having shared my story with them.
I left, grateful that I had the opportunity to meet and speak with the next Senator from the (sometimes) great state of Nevada.
– Written by Sonny Palermo
