Liberal flack

Lately, I’ve gotten some flack from my liberal colleagues for my critiques of what’s wrong with the Democrats, and the problems with progressives in America. I’ve also been critiqued by some for trying to stay on top of the “conservative” media.

And yet, they ask, “why are so many people deceived by Bush and the Republicans?”
They are baffled, by the fact that half the country leans right. And yet, conservatives are just “crazy ignorant uneducated religious people.”

They’re not.

Republicans have a message, that reaches and resonates with half of the American people. If you think that all those people are crazy, and that there’s no use reasoning with them, well then, what’s the point in trying anyway? Save your breath and other people's time.

Liberals would do well to study the conservative message. What are the values and beliefs behind them that people find so appealing? What is it in the Republican message that is so much more convincing than ours? We need to respond to these values and these beliefs, because clearly, if no one is being convinced by “so-called clearly superior” liberal arguments, than we need to change our tactics. And if you are so convinced of your own righteousness that you think that people should change to suit your beliefs, well that’s the definition of a close-minded person.

When I heard that Bush was re-elected, I was furious. Absolutely furious. But not at the Republicans; they did exactly what they needed to do. I was ashamed to be a progressive, because clearly, we did not get our message out.

If I were a were a wise old Chinese poet scholar, I’m sure I could find something pithy to say, like, “Do not criticize your neighbor’s house until you fix your own.”

I hold liberals to a higher standard for the same reasons I hold Americans to a higher standard in world affairs. We should know better.

More on that later.