“I really didn’t appreciate all those outside people coming into my neighbourhood, my city and causing problems, looting and carrying on. I had a three-hour commute to work because they shut the whole place down. It’s a pandemic and we’re shutting down churches, but not this?”
My massive family lives all over the US, and between them hold wildly different political views. One uncle carries a cherished copy of the US constitution wherever he goes. A cousin is more likely to be found burning the American flag in the West Bank. Some have marched against the endless wars. Others have served for decades in the military.
But I could always count on them for one thing: an accurate prediction of who was going to win the next election. When we gathered in North Carolina each summer before the vote, I’d seek out the handful of swing voters among us and I’d be left in no doubt. Kerry was headed for failure in 2004. Obama would take the White House in 2008 and keep it four years later. They’d never let me down.
