Let the healing begin
As those of you who attend this virtual church know, I've recently transformed myself from a smart-assed parodist of pompous psuedo-literary political fulminators into a concerned citizen who wishes to heal the cultural rift that's causing America to eat itself from within. Just a view more days of these pills, and the shift will be complete. The night sweats are an unpleasant side effect, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for America.
Many years ago, when I was a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Chicago, I travelled to Indiana to do a story on the closing of a garment factory whose owner was moving operations to Mexico. There I was, a journalism-school graduate who'd grown up in suburban Phoenix, a guy with every opportunity in the world, some of which I hadn't yet blown, and I was trying to tell the stories of women my age whose lives were basically over. I wrote a decent piece that no one read, and the night before I left I hooked up with one of the women, who I found sexy because she was training to be a bounty hunter.
My point here is: Thank God I'm not the only one thinking about these issues. Read this post from the almost unimaginably thoughtful writer David Neiwert. He lays out a blueprint for how Red and Blue types can begin to move toward mutual understanding. Since the post itself is longer than Don Quixote, let me summarize a bit.
Toss out the 20 percent or so of voters who believe that they are superior because they happen to live in Portland or Brooklyn and who think that the best way to get back at the Republicans is to stage a shopping boycott the day after Thanksgiving. Then dump the 30 percent who believe that George W. Bush is paving the way to the Rapture and that homosexuality is a crime against God. That leaves us with 50 percent or so of voters, in both states, who are willing to listen to reason. Cue Paul Reubens.
Shh! I'm trying to listen to reason!
Here are Neiwert's money paragraphs:
"There will be inevitable differences. We won't always see eye to eye on some subjects, especially when they are products of differences in religious beliefs: abortion, gay rights, evolution. What has to change is how we react to these differences. Instead of dismissing people as hopeless ignoramuses for disagreeing on these matters, liberals need to operate from a basis of mutual respect for differing but sincerely held beliefs.
Of course, this respect will not always be reciprocated. This will be especially the case for the hard-core right wing that has an entrenched presence in rural America. Those are not the people whose minds can be changed. And in these kinds of cases, liberals should feel no compulsion to be "sensitive." Indeed, failing to stand up to them with appropriate strength is a recipe for getting bulldozed, as liberals have for the past decade.
But for the bulk of rural Americans, when liberals come up against these kinds of "moral values" friction points, there are two ways to effectively respond: 1) deflecting the conflict by emphasizing the common ground in real-life issues like saving farms and jobs; and 2) stressing their own deeply held moral values, including fairness and inclusiveness, as the basis of their positions -- thereby refuting the charges of amorality with which they are regularly accused by the right."
The Democratic Party seems to be catching on. But to beat the Republicans, it's going to take a lot of work, not just talk about "values." They're going to have to, like the Republicans, set up a series of propaganda organizations that can reach churchgoers in large numbers. And I don't use the word propaganda perjoritavely. The Christian Right have essentially sold people the bill of goods that God is a Republican who wants the United States to rule the world. It's going to take a lot more than sincerity to counteract that noise.
At the same time, I wish that people would stop, and by stop, I mean start, calling me to help regenerate the faith component of the Democratic Party. I don't even have faith that I'll wake up in the morning without vomiting. Now go away. I have to support the administration and its policies in my work.