Monday, October 30, 2006

Living Blue in a Red State

My son says he will never come back to live in South Carolina. I don't know if it is my greatest triumph or greatest failure as a parent that I raised a blue boy in a very red state.

All I know is I raised a man who would never say these words to me:

"If gays want to be married, they can move to a country where they can."

I managed to hold back my first thought (and second and third and fourth) which was along the lines of how I'd heard that hatred spewed about another minority group wanting equal rights in the not too distant past.

Such ignorance is impossible to deal with. It is based in self hatred (as evidenced by the need to find some group to make 'less than').

I'm sick and tired of the South. I'm sick and tired of the venom and mean spirited comments. I'm sick of the division. I'm sick of being smeared with a broad brush of political vomit just because some-one wants to put a 'liberal' label on me. I'm sick and tired of watching liberals spew hatred back at conservatives.

If we are truly a Christain nation, why are we living with so much anger? When are we going to stop letting politicians divide us with sound bites and pokes at our weaknesses and prejudices? When are we going to realize that we all, liberal and conservative, are being deceived and used? When are we going to put aside our fire and rhetoric? It isn't all or nothing. America has never been all or nothing. It's about finding common ground. And today, we won't even try to listen to each other without casting about for "oh, all you liberals think..." or "I see, all you conservatives are...".

I'm sick of it.


Thor sez: Off with their heads! Gnaw. Gnaw.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. And I love the pictures of your kitties! I don't have any cats (I wish I did), so it's a way for me to live vicariously.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Thor...Off with their heads!

To me, the marriage amendment is a hate amendment. I can't see anything else in it's words.

Uncle Zoloft said...

Amen Sista!

Anonymous said...

I feel like I'm sneaking into a party I'm not invited to, but I have to say that I agree with a lot of what you say. For what it's worth, I think we really, really need to stop the gerrymandering and life-time appointments to political office. More people need to be involved, and the great mass of us that really want to live "in the middle" deserve representation, and I would hope that such a change would bring all of us closer together.

JanetLee said...

Agricola: A friend of mine is a staunch Republican, registered as such, votes as such. I would be considered a Democrat for my left leanings, but really am an Independent. She and I have almost identical views on most of the 'hot topic' issues.

The only place we differ is where I support spending more money on more efficient social support, that actually moves people off welfare and aims to interupt the cycle of poverty. She supports drastically cutting social spending and letting the private sector pick up the burden.

I think we are closer to the norm than all the talking heads on the TV who create vastly differing viewpoints for ratings. Agreement is boring. Compromise doesn't bring in the viewers.

The solution to this division, I believe, is in the hands of the millions and millions who do not vote.