Introducing (Mc)Cain

There's always that bit of adjustment time after one leaves and a new one comes in. A roommate's departure is almost equivalent to experiencing a breakup. You miss that person's personality, jokes, company, and subtle little tendencies only you would know. And, of course, the fact that my previous roommate was Mark makes it even worse. (Tear)

The first few months w/ the new roommate have been good. They've been great. It's been a time of getting-to-know-you, of new furniture, of shared couch vegging, of shared dinners. Sweet.

Introducing my roommate Cain:

His parents' home country was once conquered by Spaniards.
Same w/ mine.

He has immigrant parents.
Same w/ me.

His father once worked the strawberry fields.
Same w/ mine.

His father votes democrat.
Same w/ mine.

He attended Berkeley.
So did I.

Yet, tell me why our political opinions differ?

Cain supports McCain, so much that he concocted this image in photoshop:










We often find ourselves debating on which presidential candidate is better or why we side the way we do. Or on other issues like how we'd solve the crisis in our education system.

And I love it.

I acknowledge that I'm not completely set in my political ideologies. I'm definitely no political junkie and I do not frequent political journals or tv shows. But I do know that I'd like to be at a level where I can argue my stances and the reasons why I vote the way I do. I want to be at a point where I can hold my own, even to a point where I can persuade someone with an opposing view.

One thing that irked me about politically charged PilOrg meetings is that there was no debate. Meetings were so one-sided. I remember back in freshmen year, PAA held a meeting about prop 54. "Vote NO on Prop 54!" Here are reasons why. Here, wear these cool buttons. And now... let's discuss why we should vote no. I remember asking in small group: "So, what are the pro arguments for prop 54? Why would somebody WANT to vote YES?" I wondered why we weren't discussing the other side. There must be a reason why the proposition came to life. What's the argument there?

To better know yourself, get to know your enemy.

I feel like many of the friends I've got up here do not differ in political opinion. And there's no problem w/ that at all, but it's refreshing to hear the opposing view and it's constructive to dialogue and debate. Having a conservative roommate (who was a political science major) is helping me get to the point I want to be. To argue, you've got to really know what you stand for and why. There's no progress w/out dialogue and trust me when I say you can see and hear the progress here.

Much love to you roomie.