red onion

Earlier I posted that 51 percent of the voting public has abandoned humane values. This was a statement loaded with fallacies, assumptions and insults to those who voted for Bush. I had a conversation yesterday in the coffeeshop, with a Bush supporter. Yes, a real conversation. He is as concerned as I am, about so many issues. He wound up agreeing with most of what I said, and even backed down from defensiveness when I pointed out there are hungry people in this city, in New Orleans, and all over this country. Yes, people with not enough to eat, in this, the greatest democracy in the world, blah, blah, blah.

It is possible to talk to these people, like the pastry delivery man, who, after I admitted my feelings, admitted he really didn't like the man much. He professed a lack of confidence in his own ability to decipher political issues, and this is just the type of person that is drawn to the Daddy Knows Best politics of G.W.Bush.

I have confidence that we can, and must, learn to speak to these people. At the same time, I do not underestimate the viciousness of their leaders. I think it very important right now to distinguish between the leaders and their followers.

We must grab every opportunity we can to communicate with the Bush supporters in our community...and really learn to listen, while simultaneously clearly expressing our own principles.

We will accomplish two goals with this communication: we will no longer so readily demonize the followers of G.W., and they in turn, will be less likely to demonize the left. There is much more we agree on than disagree, and we just don't know this yet.

That said, we, the left, have our own problems and agenda to focus on. I'm narrowing down to two issues right now: that this election was stolen, like the 2004 election, and that until we can guaruntee fair elections, we are a nation under seige, and no longer a democracy.

Remember, Bush supporters, and many liberals, are in denial of the true intent and viciousness of the right. They are after our entitlements and the dismantling of the middle class. A class struggling to make ends meet is a class unempowered and unable to educate itself, or so they believe.

Is that their conscious intent? I don't know yet...but does it matter, when that will no doubt be the end result of their policies?

A further thought: I don't know that we have four years to correct this...four years is a long time in which much damage can be done...the question is...what now?