On the Fringe

I drove up to Salt Lake today to do some research on issues related to helping inmates and ex-offenders obtain the trifecta of personal identification required to participate in society (birth certificate, state ID card, and social security card) and to meet with a state senator about putting together legislation to eliminate some of the unique obstacles many of them they face as they try to get this documentation. It's just the beginning of a new adventure which will likely consume much of my mental energy over the coming year, but it was a very successful beginning.

While I was driving on I-15, I was listening to someone talk about the 1992 election and his involvement with far right politics, including interning with Gayle Ruzicka and the Utah Eagle Forum, meeting Cleon Skousen, and supporting the Bo Gritz presidential campaign.

I flashed back to 1992. Roger and I lived in Highland at the time, and our neighbor was Bo Gritz's Utah County campaign chair. She was really very nice, and she was happy to help me out the time I locked myself out of my car about half an hour north of town and our other car was in the shop. She lent Roger her van, he drove up to rescue me, then he suggested I drive her van back.

When I dropped the van off at her house and started walking home, I caught a glimpse of all of the bumper stickers on the back that I'd never noticed before, like "God, Guns, and Gritz" and "No New World Order." It was an odd sensation to realize that as far as other drivers were concerned, I'd owned those political views while I was behind the wheel. How did I look out there on the fringe?

We were sad when armed IRS agents came to repossess our neighbor's house. She and her husband hadn't paid taxes for 15 years as a political statement, and they had to move away. She was really very nice.