Now what? A note to my co-Liberals.
We the people have elected our first black president. There is no way to convey my pride in our country right now. It wasn't that long ago that I was thinking "I love this guy but there's no way."
And BTW, I'm aware of the real concern that he won't live to be inaugurated, a concern I hear not only from African-Americans but from people generally my age and older who remember JFK, MLK, et al. Powerful leaders who want to change the balance of power risk their lives, and we need to remember to be grateful to Barack Obama and his family for their willingness to take this risk for the sake of all of us.
I also want to remember to be grateful to everyone who gave so much money and time to get Obama elected. We all "own a piece of this thing" and that's the other historic thing here. We elected not only a black man, but a man who ran his campaign in an historically different way, a man who worked within his party but also outside the party Machine. He found ways to reach us directly, to work around the Big Media filter. He convinced us he was worth supporting directly, worth our real involvement in the political process. He relied on us, not on the traditional sources of money and support. And he did this by fanning, not our fears but our hopes, however cheesy that sounds now. That's historically significant, too.
Now what?
I think it helps to ask what needs to be undone from the last eight years. It's easy to start listing specific wrongs that need to be righted, there's something more important.
The worst thing was the divisiveness, the utter lack of respect for people who think differently. We liberals tend to focus on all the insults levied at people who are educated, live in cities, are not Conservative Christian, are gay, etc., etc. And we want to blame the Right for this intolerance. We can talk about who is to blame for the divide, but we need to be careful not to do the same thing.
And it's not just about supporting congressional leaders who will "reach across the aisle."
I'm hearing liberals saying things like "I don't understand how anyone could support McCain/Palin." OK, fair enough. But we need to get that question answered. We need to find out. Listen. Listen. Listen. We need Obama to lead the healing, but it won't happen unless we do our part down here on the ground.
Our candidate won. We won. There are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason, are really afraid of what comes next. We are faced with a choice. Do we just force our agenda and our worldview on the other nearly-half of the country? Or do we try to stitch this country back together into a place where difference is appreciated, where we all -- even those people, the conservative Christian, anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-Guantanamo, etc. people who live in counties with no Starbucks -- are real Americans entitled to be treated with respect and to participate in the public discourse.
This happens -- or doesn't -- down here in our daily lives.
And BTW, I'm aware of the real concern that he won't live to be inaugurated, a concern I hear not only from African-Americans but from people generally my age and older who remember JFK, MLK, et al. Powerful leaders who want to change the balance of power risk their lives, and we need to remember to be grateful to Barack Obama and his family for their willingness to take this risk for the sake of all of us.
I also want to remember to be grateful to everyone who gave so much money and time to get Obama elected. We all "own a piece of this thing" and that's the other historic thing here. We elected not only a black man, but a man who ran his campaign in an historically different way, a man who worked within his party but also outside the party Machine. He found ways to reach us directly, to work around the Big Media filter. He convinced us he was worth supporting directly, worth our real involvement in the political process. He relied on us, not on the traditional sources of money and support. And he did this by fanning, not our fears but our hopes, however cheesy that sounds now. That's historically significant, too.
Now what?
I think it helps to ask what needs to be undone from the last eight years. It's easy to start listing specific wrongs that need to be righted, there's something more important.
The worst thing was the divisiveness, the utter lack of respect for people who think differently. We liberals tend to focus on all the insults levied at people who are educated, live in cities, are not Conservative Christian, are gay, etc., etc. And we want to blame the Right for this intolerance. We can talk about who is to blame for the divide, but we need to be careful not to do the same thing.
And it's not just about supporting congressional leaders who will "reach across the aisle."
I'm hearing liberals saying things like "I don't understand how anyone could support McCain/Palin." OK, fair enough. But we need to get that question answered. We need to find out. Listen. Listen. Listen. We need Obama to lead the healing, but it won't happen unless we do our part down here on the ground.
Our candidate won. We won. There are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason, are really afraid of what comes next. We are faced with a choice. Do we just force our agenda and our worldview on the other nearly-half of the country? Or do we try to stitch this country back together into a place where difference is appreciated, where we all -- even those people, the conservative Christian, anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-Guantanamo, etc. people who live in counties with no Starbucks -- are real Americans entitled to be treated with respect and to participate in the public discourse.
This happens -- or doesn't -- down here in our daily lives.
Labels: politics
posted by kath at
09:05
3 Comments:
This is right on. Let the healing begin.
Kathy,
I agree with and like what you said but I've got to take exception to one sentence.
We liberals tend to focus on all the insults levied at people who are educated, live in cities, are not Conservative Christian, are gay, etc., etc.
Many denizens of rural America participated in making this election turn out as it did. I live in a predominantly city-free county and I'm proud to say that we OVERWHELMINGLY made liberal selections.
Wow, Michael. Thanks for the comments and thanks for pointing that sentence out. I didn't do a good job of expressing myself on that one.
I certainly didn't mean to imply that liberals actually fit the stereotypes in that sentence, but just that we liberals tend to think the divisiveness and intolerance all stem from the Right, and fail to see our own. I think the typical Right-sided intolerance paints us all with a certain set of stereotypes, but that we have our own for the Right that are just as much stereotype.
I'm very much aware of and very grateful for all the ways the stereotypes don't fit us, on either side. And grateful for every person who voted liberal this year.
Wasn't the city v. Real America thing strange?
Thanks again for the comment.
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