Buddy is what history has called a “Yellow Dog Democrat.” He would never disagree with that statement. He never has had anything good to say about any Republican that has ever held office. In fact the word “Republican” is almost always uttered with an expletive of one form or another. If a Republican and a Democrat were ever to have the same idea on anything, if the Republican got the idea out of his mouth first, it would be a bad idea that would be the death of the country. If the Democrat were to have the idea first it would be the best idea anyone had entertained in years. If some how both parties were to come out with the same idea at the same time, it would either be Buddy’s tribute to bi-partisanship or he would somehow self-destruct. I am not sure which would be the case. Buddy knew (or at least said he knew) all the local Democratic leaders in the area and was heavily involved in local Democratic politics.
On the other hand, there was Mike. Mike was the polar opposite of Buddy. I’m really not sure what they call the Republican version of a “Yellow Dog Democrat,” but that is Mike. I guess we will just say that Mike is a “died in the wool Republican. Mike absolutely hates the Democrats and thinks that they will tax and spend us all into the next Great Depression. MIke is quick to make judgments of people. If the person in question is a Republican he or she is among God’s chosen people. If he or she is a Democrat they either belong in prison or should be stoned to death, probably stoned.
These two lived a rather peaceful co-existence, though both made it very clear that they didn’t like each other at all. These to fellow-church members could maintain some level of peaceful co-existence mostly because to the degree that they possibly could do so, they just avoided each other. You generally didn’t see the two of them together except during Sunday morning worship and even then Mike was in the choir and Buddy sat about two-thirds of the way from the back.
About the only other place you would see these two in the same room, and it was a fairly small room at that, was once a month at United Methodist Men. When the men would gather for breakfast and a morning of working around the church, both Buddy and Mike would be there. Both, after all, were faithful church members, and to add on top of that, neither was about to allow the other to show him up. So, they would both be there, they would be on time, and they both worked very hard. They represented their church and did so well. They truly cared about what happened at the church.
One Saturday morning the men of the congregation had gathered for United Methodist, nothing unusual there. I don’t remember why, but I wasn’t there that morning. They had breakfast and then started doing some work around the building. I am not exactly sure what happened, like I said, I wasn’t there, but some how, some way Buddy and Mike ended up working together on some project. I don’t know who started talking first, but one of them did. Things went back and forth. Then they escalated. It became a fight and I don’t mean a war of words. At one point Mike had Buddy upside down ready to do what professional wrestlers call a pile driver when he realized what he was doing. He turned Buddy back right side up, set him down and walked away. Cooler heads prevailed and remained between the two until they both went home.
It was all over politics. Two dedicated Christian men, ready to go to blows over politics. That is where we have moved in our society. It is sad. It is also frightening.