"Why do you seem so normal?" he asked.
"I'm from Ohio," I responded.
The "he" was John Hawkins, a conservative attending RightOnline in Minneapolis. I am an employee of The Huffington Post, allegedly an enemy of all the things he cherishes. Over the course of four days in the nexus of Netroots Nation and RightOnline, I spent more time with the conservatives -- and we all seemed to like it just fine.
Many of us met at a "Left Meets Right" happy hour Thursday evening. Hawkins was the first from the Right to show up and he was a great sport. We ended up talking about our similarities instead of our differences, which I guess is what lead me to so many great times with the attendees of RightOnline.
And I was truthful in my explanation of "normalcy". It is because I am from Ohio. I may live in D.C., but I am an will always be a farm girl of the Midwest. Most of my family, including my parents, are Republicans. I love them more than anything in this world. Like all good children, I know a thing or two about negotiating around potentially explosive conversation.
We talked about the joys of Midwestern life -- football, fish fries, local brews and grandparents who took us hunting. Never once did we have to talk about the debt ceiling, health care reform or the 2012 races. Why bother? We were having a good time.
Throughout the rest of the weekend's events, Hawkins introduced me to other RightOnline attendees with, "Have you met Mandy? She works for The Huffington Post." I was at first a curiosity, then we all settled in with talk amongst our real selves, the ones that don't carry press passes or attend political events.
There were photos shared of kids and pets, gentle ribbing about sports rivalries and questions about what it's like to live in D.C. In a weekend that revolved around partisan politics, I was pleasantly surprised to find people can put them aside.
It's probably too much to hope that we could carry these small, shared experiences into the oncoming pre-2012 election madness. If nothing else, maybe as we inevitably get into partisan arguments with our family, friends and neighbors in the coming months, we could remember what brought us into contact in the first place -- and try to keep the vitriol on message.
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Just kidding. The country is not that divided. Most oppose the mandate. Most want Wall Street to follow the rules. Most think we are being ripped off at the pump, by banks, and by insurance companies.
The list goes on.
Most other things can be talked about calmly. H-1b is something I witness costing Americans their jobs. There isn't a liberal or conservative defense for H-1b. The only ones pushing for H-1b are corporate lobbyist and corporate media. You know, maybe we just need to end corporate media. Take back the frequency of ABC, CBS, and NBC. Just open the frequencies to everyone.
The American Left hasn't had a coherent ideology in at least a generation. If the Left had an ideology -- most of them wouldn't knocking on doors for Democrats. The Left may have a vague political agenda but it isn't based on an identifiable ideology.
We are no longer representeÂd by the checks and balances put in place by the ConstitutiÂon. Our vote is no longer an efficient shield to protect the 99% of America who relies on regulationÂ, representaÂtion, and mandates to counterbalÂance a CapitalistÂic Society (profits over people) and the welfare of 350,000,00Â0 human beings.â€
You will never see a hyper ideological progressive for example point out the obvious things Dems have done that they support. Unlike Dem supporters who will give you an assessment that is more honest because they point out what they like about what Dems accomplished and criticize what they did not do.
What ideologies are progressives supporting these days. I haven't seen an ideological progressive/liberal in a long time? Do you know the difference between an ideology and a political agenda?
It would be GREAT if our schools taught critical thinking skills to its students.
People act as if the animosity was created by both sides equally. It was conservatives who decided, 30-40 years ago, to blame "the liberals" for everything bad that has ever happened in the history of the universe.
Liberals really only started getting angry and fighting back over the past decade, and now all of sudden there's this false equivalency that "both sides are so angry and venomous."
Sorry, it just isn't so. If you want to blame one person for the degraded discourse in this country, blame Rush Limbaugh. He's the model that the right-wing noise machine has been built on.
Feel free to rebut what I said. I know that you conservatives are used to bullying liberals into submission relentlessly, and it bothers you when one actually punches back. Too bad.