Not the end of the world

Everyone on the left feels a little gutted today, I think that's a given. Not only did Bush win again, but the Senate and House both got filled with yet more and more right-wing ideologues, and anti-gay marriage amendments passed in 11 states. And of course there's the little matter of the Supreme Court. So yes, pretending things don't look bleak on the national level is ridiculous. But I think we have to keep some perspective - against the odds - and continue the uprising that's occurred over the past couple of years. And I really think that it's time for us to become severely informed as to what goes on in the middle of this country. As distasteful as it is, as painful as it is, to lend an ear to a Sean Hannity or an Ann Coulter or god forbid a Rush Limbaugh, it's time for liberals to learn to take three breaths and just listen - without arguing - to everything they have to say. Listen to understand what it is in what is being said that appeals as much as it does to those on the Right.

I was listening to Ron Silver last night - a Hollywood actor and producer who has helped Bush during this campaign - and he was talking about how impossible it is to sit down for a peaceful conversation with a liberal in Hollywood. My first reaction was to groan and say, "Oh God, here comes these stupid accusations of liberal intolerance again...", and to think, oh yes, I'm sure an evening spent talking to Ann Coulter is a peaceful, civilized way to pass the time for a liberal. But then I thought, the only possible way to turn this thing around is to actually withhold our distaste and actually... listen... to what it is that appeals to middle America. Not just our prejudiced version of it, but the thing itself. And then to engage them, peaceably, on their own level with their own language. The way my brother, who knows his Bible, loves to invite Jehovah's Witnesses in because he knows he can work them on their own ground.

Which brings me to another possibility: if we ever want to engage the middle of this country, I think it's time for all of us to know the Bible, better than the Christian Right knows it themselves... It's just one book, albeit a big frickin dull-as-dirt book, but it's THE Book, the Book that every social conservative politician holds by their side as they're wending their way to the White House, and if we're serious about engaging this increasingly hard-right country, it's imperative that we learn how to engage them on their own terms, terms which are largely drawn from the Good Book. Maybe this is a crazy suggestion, but I really don't think so. We need to listen, and learn, and not let these failures turn us into sputtering Tourette's ridden lunatics... after all that's what they expect from us apparently...

And Lord we have to figure out a way to wean people off of Fox....