Political Vomit

I've been watching the coverage of the upcoming election and talking to people about it, and I feel like if I don't spew some of the thoughts that have been locked in my head during this time, I'll go into some sort of mental constipation overload. Thus, the following may not be particularly coherent, organized, or digestible. It is, after all, political vomit. Here goes.

I met a couple at the park the other day whilst watching the kids. They were very nice, and I quite enjoyed connecting with them as our kids threw sand on each other in the sandbox. They'd just moved to St. Louis from California, where they had both worked in the film industry, thus we had some immediate common ground. Their son was wearing a tee shirt with the word PEACE on it, framed in the appropriate symbol. Not too surprising, of course, but somewhat indicative. Shortly, the couple began talking politics with me, assuming that I was, of course, in complete agreement with them in their decidedly liberal views. I was sad, because I realized that what had begun to look like a burgeoning friendship was suddenly doomed. NOT because I cannot tolerate democratic friends, mind you. Quite the reverse, in fact: I sat feeling rather dejected in the knowledge that, if these nice people knew I was a Republican, they'd suddenly and disgustedly shun me.

After all-- and this is the point-- Republicans are EVIL, aren't they? It was apparent that this nice couple believed in that supposition entirely. From George W. Bush on down, Republicans are evil, selfish, hate-filled, war-mongering capitalist pigs intent only on dropping bombs, jailing homosexuals, and shooting things with guns. Republicans are incapable of love, compassion, generosity and grace. For example, when asked about Cindy McCain's adopting an Asian child whom she'd brought to this country for a life-saving surgery, a caller on a radio talk show stated with dripping disgust, "she's just looking for a new servant to manage her mansions." Enough said.

Being a Republican means being a pariah. It's not the same in reverse. Have you noticed this?

We have quite a few Democratic and liberal friends. Hell, we have Socialist friends. Do most hardcore Democrats have Republican friends (that they know of)? I'd hazard a guess that they don't. We, as Republicans, can have liberal friends because, for the most part, we see liberals as wrong, and potentially dangerous when in positions of high power, but that's all. We don't think they are evil. We don't believe they deserve to have bags of human feces thrown at them as they attempt to enter their convention. We don't wish them horrible misfortunes. We believe that the rank and file Democrat truly means well. Thus, we don't hate them. We can and do befriend them.

Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, believe that Republicans are the pure essence of evil. Me. They think that I, your friendly neighborhood coffee-drinking, Potter fan-fiction writing, goof-off computer animator and very occasional blog writer, am EVIL. It goes without saying: you don't make friends with evil. You fight evil. You shun and hate evil. In a culture ruled by political correctness, marches for peace, and tolerance for all, Republicans alone deserve nothing but scathing mockery, violent protest, and complete rejection. Because we, people like George W. and John McCain on down to little old me, are the devil incarnate.

It's cool to hate people like me. It's hip to mock us. Not that the mockeries are fair or even representative of us. I've never shot a single living thing, for fun or for food. I'm an artist. I listen to System of a Down and Evanescence and Three Days Grace. But that doesn't matter, because Republicans like me are ALL-- without exception-- gun-rack truck-drivin' redneck factory workers or rich white wanna-be-slave-owning industrialists. We're all selfish, arrogant, and stupid, and we ALL listen to country and western music. Right? As far as the left is concerned, these are the things that virtually define being a Republican. I'm a Republican, so do the math. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

That's the first thing that has been bugging me about the political world. After all, how do you discuss issues calmly with someone who is absolutely certain that you, your leaders, and everything you stand for is the earthly manifestation of pure, liquid evil?

But there's something else.

I, like pretty much every other semi-conservative Republican with a pulse, was excited about Sarah Palin's appointment as McCain's running mate. Up until then, I was not a huge McCain supporter. Palin I like though, for a variety of reasons. You get the point. When we expressed this excitement to one of our Democratic friends, she recoiled. This friend, who I will call Barbara, was completely disgusted with Palin. Why? "Well," she replied, "the whole beauty pageant thing..."

...

... what?

I'd not even heard about "the beauty pageant thing" at that point. I looked it up, worried, certain that Palin must have some horrid, nefarious past in which she'd cheated in the pageant, or been paid to judge falsely, or had broken the knee of another contestent with a tire iron. As it turns out, she was merely in the Ms. Alaska pageant. She came in second. That was enough for Barbara. To my wife I said, "as an attractive woman, does it offend you that apparently being attractive means you are stupid and incapable of leading?" She didn't need to answer. She did, of course, and her answer wouldn't surprise anyone.

Another friend of ours, who happens to be a Socialist-leaning Democrat (we'll call her Ruth), was equally repulsed when we brought up Sarah Palin at a recent gathering. Ruth believes Bush is the anti-christ (not entirely jokingly, either) but she was, at first, cautiously hopeful about Sarah Palin. Until her speech at the Democratic convention, that is. As she talked about her response to Palin's speech, Ruth repeatedly used the word "horrified". My mouth was agape. I'd seen the speech. Depending on your philosophy, I could imagine you disagreeing with Palin, but to be repeatedly "horrified"? I asked why. What policy or position did Ruth object to? Turns out it wasn't really any of her specific policies, it was the way she was so vicious and mean, the way she attacked the Democrats.

"You mean," (I didn't say) "She hurled plastic bags of infected urine at them and dropped sacks of dry cement on their buses from overpasses?" Oh wait, no, that was the Democrats. Not the leaders, of course, but I've noticed that those same leaders didn't verbally object in any way to the actions of their followers. Thus, we have to assume that that kind of attack is all right with both Ruth and Barack Obama. No, stating facts and critiques about one's opponant from the stage, with a smile and a confident tone of voice-- that's uncalled for and unforgivable.

Then, of course, there were the polar bears. There's always the polar bears. Apparently, Palin refused to sign some bill that would declare all the polar bears endangered. Ruth was absolutely beside herself about that. As far as she was concerned, Palin was intentionally trying to kill off the polar bears. I'm not exaggerating. She really believes that, with a passion. I tried, fleetingly, to discuss it with her, to offer a lucid argument, but she simply couldn't hear it. I could see it on her face. No argument mattered. Just the polar bears.

I went for a walk, completely flummuxed. I couldn't quite put my finger on what bugged me so much about talking to Ruth, or, for that matter, Barbara and the rest of the Democrat/liberals out there. I finally realized what it was, and it was a revelation to me. Here's what it is:

Republicans like me base our positions on logic. We base it on thinking through the facts, discussing them with people who both agree and disagree with us, listening to arguments on both sides, and coming to a defensible conclusion. Our Democratic friends do not seem to do that, and by extrapolation, I can only assume that this is not a typical characteristic of Democratic philosophies in general. Democrats don'tseem to think about issues-- they feel about them. For our Democratic friends, issues are, first and foremost, emotional. The feel-good response is the right one, even if it doesn't really work out in real life.

Further, anyone who disagrees with a Democrat or argues with them is assaulting their feelings, and therefore invalidating them. Anyone who contends with the "science" of global warming, therefore, hates the environment and are evil. Anyone who believes welfare might actually harm the poor who come to rely on it hates the poor and wants them all shipped off to an island somewhere. In short, to a liberal-minded person, if the argument is not emotional at it's heart, there can be no argument at all. It didn't even begin to occur to Ruth that Sarah Palin might have had good, logical reasons for not signing a bill that felt as good as one protecting polar bears. Despite whatever I said to logically argue Sarah Palin's possible perspective on it (like, for example, the fact that they said the same thing about the caribou, and we all know how well they fared, despite the predictions) Ruth was completely unable to hear a logical (non-emotional) argument. If the motivation isn't emotional, it isn't a motivation at all. Instead, Ruth had to invent a potential motivation for Sarah Palin based on emotion: hate. Sarah Palin hates polar bears. To me, it would be truly funny if Ruth didn't believe it so ardently. Sarah Palin hating polar bears is the only thing that makes sense to a person who bases their decisions solely on feelings.

Ugh. That's about it. Enough political vomit. The bottom line is I am so very tired of feeling afraid to admit I am a Republican, since it has become such conventional wisdom that Republicans are stupid, mean, hateful and backwards. I'm a people-pleaser; I want to be liked! But, thankfully, not enough to change my hard-thought convictions. I'll just go and vote, like I always do, without making a big thing about it, just like the vast majority of those who are like me.

And I am tired of not being able to have a healthy debate about issues because you cannot argue with someone's emotions. It just insults them, because deep down, they believe you are invalidating something central and very personal to who they are. Honestly, I have no problem with feelings. I am a sensitive, emotional guy, and I am passionate about my views, but moreso because I have thought them through so carefully. In fact, the more my worldviews are backed up by careful, daily scrutiny, the more impassioned I am about them, because I am increasingly confident in their rightness. Political decisions must be logical first.

But you can't say that to a liberal. Mostly because if you do, they'll know you are a Republican, and everyone knows Republicans are evil.

(sigh.)