Enough...
I know I tend to rant on politics and philosophy a lot. That's just the nature of who I am, I guess. I don't pretend to be so profound, or to have TEH ANSWERS TO EVERYTHING, but I feel I might as well make some use of this journal.
This will be my last post on post election whackiness for a while. Maybe.
Enough is enough, people. I've seen that United States of Canada gif floating around. I've seen the rants excoriating the Red states. Hell, I've seen the talk of secession. I understand you liberals are upset at the outcome of the election, but this comes off as nothing less than childish tantrums.
Liberals, enough already. Wasn't it your man himself that said we aren't red states or blue states, we're red white and blue? Political fluff, maybe, but it's true none-the-less. The people in the so called red states are no different from you. I should know. I live in Texas, which is about as red as you can get. The people here share the same dreams, the same hopes and the same fears as the rest of us. We all want a better world for our children. We all want to live a good life, to be prosperous and find some degree of hapiness. We all value the freedom that makes America so great. We all dread the possibility of more attacks on our way of life.
So enough already. Stop pretending there's somehow a huge gulf between the states in red and the states in blue. This simply isn't so. Stop pretending the people who voted for Bush are deluded, or stupid, or lying to themselves, or whatever it is you're saying to dodge the truth. They aren't. Stop the hysterical shouting, the paranoid delusions that the election was somehow stolen, that 4 more years of Bush somehow means democracy is finished in this country. It isn't. Republicans believe in democracy just as much as you do. Republicans are willing to fight and die for democracy. Are you?
Those of you on the far left are becoming the living embodiment of the Nietzsche quote: "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." You have cast the red states, the conservatives, in stark terms, whipping them into an "enemy" of your ideals that frankly does not exist - especially not in the extreme and distorted form you imagine. You accuse them of ignoring the self evident truth, of being intolerant. You claim conservatives hate you, that for them it's "my way or the highway."
Look in the mirror lately? You liberals have become the very thing you claim to fight. You have closed your ears to disenting voices. You will not accept views that stray from the mainstream, PC dogma. You refuse to compromise, to find the 3rd way. You are far too politically correct to admit it, but you hate conservatives. And in refusing to accept so much as the legitimacy of their concerns it is you, not them, who have adopted a "my way or the highway" attitude.
And from my perspective as a former blue state citizen, now living in a red state, you look more and more ridiculous every day. You are turning out to protest Bush's reelection. But what are you protesting? That democracy yet again worked? Look, I know you're fired up, but you are seriously hurting your cause. By writing off the red states as a bunch of knuckle dragging, homophobic, bigoted Jesus freaks you are alienating people who could very well ally themselves to your fight against injustice. Most of the people here aren't rabid ideologues. They'll listen to your message. They may even agree with you in sentiment, even if they disagree on the details. But not if you treat them like pariahs. Not if you accost them like they are committing some great sin for daring to voice doubts in your solutions. And not if you threaten to run to Canada everytime things don't go exactly as you wish.
So please, for the sake of us all, stop this bullshit immediately. Reconcilliation is not going to happen if you keep this blue state/red state rhetoric going. You lost this round. You still have a valuable role to play as the opposition. It is your solemn duty to make sure all the issues - the intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq, the plight of the uninsured, the pandering of Washigton to corporate interests and more - don't drop out of the picture. As I have said before, while you may have lost nationally, there is much you can do locally if you keep a level head and put your money where your mouth is. Just stop acting like we're a nation at war with itself. We agree on more than we disagree. It is only your boneheaded refusal to see the obvious common ground and to engage in genuine dialog with conservatives and moderates here in the heartland that is fueling this split. There is a lot of ill will on both sides, but you can go a long way toward bringing us back together if you tone it down. I can guarantee your voice will NOT be ignored unless you give people cause to ignore it by becoming shrill, paranoid fanatics. Especially not if you rail against red states like they're somehow the great Satan.
This will be my last post on post election whackiness for a while. Maybe.
Enough is enough, people. I've seen that United States of Canada gif floating around. I've seen the rants excoriating the Red states. Hell, I've seen the talk of secession. I understand you liberals are upset at the outcome of the election, but this comes off as nothing less than childish tantrums.
Liberals, enough already. Wasn't it your man himself that said we aren't red states or blue states, we're red white and blue? Political fluff, maybe, but it's true none-the-less. The people in the so called red states are no different from you. I should know. I live in Texas, which is about as red as you can get. The people here share the same dreams, the same hopes and the same fears as the rest of us. We all want a better world for our children. We all want to live a good life, to be prosperous and find some degree of hapiness. We all value the freedom that makes America so great. We all dread the possibility of more attacks on our way of life.
So enough already. Stop pretending there's somehow a huge gulf between the states in red and the states in blue. This simply isn't so. Stop pretending the people who voted for Bush are deluded, or stupid, or lying to themselves, or whatever it is you're saying to dodge the truth. They aren't. Stop the hysterical shouting, the paranoid delusions that the election was somehow stolen, that 4 more years of Bush somehow means democracy is finished in this country. It isn't. Republicans believe in democracy just as much as you do. Republicans are willing to fight and die for democracy. Are you?
Those of you on the far left are becoming the living embodiment of the Nietzsche quote: "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." You have cast the red states, the conservatives, in stark terms, whipping them into an "enemy" of your ideals that frankly does not exist - especially not in the extreme and distorted form you imagine. You accuse them of ignoring the self evident truth, of being intolerant. You claim conservatives hate you, that for them it's "my way or the highway."
Look in the mirror lately? You liberals have become the very thing you claim to fight. You have closed your ears to disenting voices. You will not accept views that stray from the mainstream, PC dogma. You refuse to compromise, to find the 3rd way. You are far too politically correct to admit it, but you hate conservatives. And in refusing to accept so much as the legitimacy of their concerns it is you, not them, who have adopted a "my way or the highway" attitude.
And from my perspective as a former blue state citizen, now living in a red state, you look more and more ridiculous every day. You are turning out to protest Bush's reelection. But what are you protesting? That democracy yet again worked? Look, I know you're fired up, but you are seriously hurting your cause. By writing off the red states as a bunch of knuckle dragging, homophobic, bigoted Jesus freaks you are alienating people who could very well ally themselves to your fight against injustice. Most of the people here aren't rabid ideologues. They'll listen to your message. They may even agree with you in sentiment, even if they disagree on the details. But not if you treat them like pariahs. Not if you accost them like they are committing some great sin for daring to voice doubts in your solutions. And not if you threaten to run to Canada everytime things don't go exactly as you wish.
So please, for the sake of us all, stop this bullshit immediately. Reconcilliation is not going to happen if you keep this blue state/red state rhetoric going. You lost this round. You still have a valuable role to play as the opposition. It is your solemn duty to make sure all the issues - the intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq, the plight of the uninsured, the pandering of Washigton to corporate interests and more - don't drop out of the picture. As I have said before, while you may have lost nationally, there is much you can do locally if you keep a level head and put your money where your mouth is. Just stop acting like we're a nation at war with itself. We agree on more than we disagree. It is only your boneheaded refusal to see the obvious common ground and to engage in genuine dialog with conservatives and moderates here in the heartland that is fueling this split. There is a lot of ill will on both sides, but you can go a long way toward bringing us back together if you tone it down. I can guarantee your voice will NOT be ignored unless you give people cause to ignore it by becoming shrill, paranoid fanatics. Especially not if you rail against red states like they're somehow the great Satan.