Political Arguments

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance -- Thomas Jefferson

Read enough of this blog or take a gander at my Facebook posts, and you can guess that I’m not shy about sharing my political beliefs. If you read the little blurb on my blog, you’ll know I do that because I think avoiding discussion of politics makes it taboo. Taboo gives things fear. And fear gives things power. So, after dabbling in what I thought was gentility of conversation, I say what I think.

But just because I say something doesn’t mean I entirely discredit the other side. It may take some to sway my beliefs, but I’m always willing to let in a new perspective to question my own. And now, as my ‘side’ feels a swell of pride in the accomplishment of the government this week, I do give some pause to wonder what the hell is the problem with what we want to do? Why is this thing that fills my heart with such joy of hope that I want to cry… why does that enflame so many hearts with livid emotion?

Okay. I know. I’m the girl who had a cardboard cutout of George Bush. I had no respect for the guy. I dressed him up like a drag queen and a pirate and Madonna. I thought he was an idiot and had to call him Georgie Porgie to stop me from bursting with vomit inducing rage. I likened Cheney to Voldemort. And with each passage of a Republican policy to cut taxes, to send us to war, to promise to leave no child behind, I wanted to gag.

I admit that. Which is why I stop now and wonder why my Republican friends are so upset. What corollary to my fury must they be experiencing as we pass a law that I see will save lives? I’m going to throw out the Founding Fathers argument here. Let’s leave George, John, Tom, Ben, and Alex out of it. They aren’t here to speak for themselves. But… I will contemplate the government butting its head into places where it doesn’t belong. I think about that… and then I remember that I like having potholes filled and police come when I’m in a car accident and jobs for my teacher friends. I don’t want a dictatorship, but I really don’t think that providing the public with services puts us on the path to Nazi censorship and concentration camps. Really. Really. Do you know how bad Hitler was? I would put a clip from Schindler’s List here, but I can’t watch it, let alone be tacky enough to search for it on youtube.

But I accept that we disagree about government and taxes. I don’t want to pay taxes. Right now I could use some extra money. I didn’t get a raise last year. I would like to be able to take a trip somewhere. I would like to be able to get a dining room set so I didn’t have to have people sit on folding chairs. I would like to be able to pay off my debt in more significant amounts than minimum payments. But, like I said, I like public safety… so I’m willing to forsake my tax money. I understand if you don’t.

And even though I think this health care bill is a brilliant start to a better America (no, I’m not naïve enough to think this rectifies everything, or even a significant fraction of everything), I accept that this is not what you want and thereby not fair because your voice wasn’t heard.

Well, you know what? That’s democracy. My voice wasn’t heard for eight years. I bitched and moaned and spouted churlish insults. I felt rage and disgust when our president didn’t give a fuck about a city drowning. When he decided other lives were expendable enough to send to the Middle East. I didn’t agree with him. I was upset. But my voice was the minority. My minority protested. My minority made jokes. My minority struggled to make our voice heard through measures that were not necessarily civil all the time… but we did have a line.

I’m not saying the left wasn’t guilty of crude mockery. Or even saying things that were inappropriate. But when a bill passed that didn’t please the liberals during the Bush administration, no one shouted on the house floor that Bush was a liar. No one called him whitey or cracker or any other derogatory term representing his WASP ethnicity. There were protests, but not guns. There was anger… and to some degree hate, but not this irrational disgusting intolerance.

Now, I know these extremists are a fraction of the Republican party. I know there are some extreme Liberals whose comments make me cringe with their severity. But nothing they say is as racist or homophobic or blatantly untrue as some of the garbage I have heard in protest of health care. 

I respect difference and debate. I think if we all agreed, that would be a dangerous thing. But letting these illogical, ignorant, hate filled voices speak up is wrong and inhumane. I lose all respect for and desire to listen to the other side. I don’t listen… and sadly, develop my own intolerance. Intolerance breeds intolerance. And that, more than health care, more than large government, more than terrorists, more than tax cuts, is a very dangerous thing.