I've been trying a new approach with Tea Party types. It stems from the incessant mantra that Obama is a raving socialist liberal. It started with some conversation or other about the plethora of liberal hosts on Fox News and the lack of conservatives on MSNBC. Now, I fully agree with the latter, but liberals on Fox? This fellow went on to cite Alan Colmes as the most iconic liberal in the universe.
And this is where it began. I respectfully disagreed and explained that just because Colmes (or anyone) is more liberal than you, that doesn't make him a Liberal. See, it's not one or the other; that's why it's called the "politicial spectrum." Spectrum, not a bimodal system. (oh no, I did not use such a fancy, latte-drinking word as bimodal). There's Tea Partiers on the one end, and Communists over on the other, and in the middle lies a whole bunch of everyone else.
This middle zone contains a HUGE pool of what are rightly called Centrists. And this is where Obama stands. Is he more liberal than a Tea Partier? Hell yeah. But to someone on the Far Left, he's dead center. But apparently Partiers (TP-ers?) can't grasp anything more complex than a simple them/us scenario. Call me crazy, but I thought the idea of a spectrum was pretty simple, and I really expected this guy to come around and agree.
But see, it's that dang faith in humanity that bit me in the butt. I have tried this approach several times since, and NOT ONE person would admit the existence of anything other than Conservative (them) and Liberal (everyone else). This phenomenon goes hand in hand with being Tea Party conservative; other Conservatives can and will have this discussion and acknowledge differing degrees of Right/Left. I don't expect to win anyone over to my political views, but I shake my head in disbelief that there are people who are so ignorant that they can't even allow that things are not so simplistic.
But of course, that's the way our Corporate-bought politicians like us: simple. It makes us easy to control, easy to lie to. If you think everyone else is a liberal lunatic commie, then you'll be scared and will vote for all kinds of crazy policies that are not in your best interest. It's time for everyone to realize that we have more in common with each other than we do with the billionaire corporatists. The us and them isn't Right/Left, it's working people vs. the insanely rich. Which none of us will ever be, no matter how many lottery tickets we buy.
So please, please, PLEASE Tea Party Nation: can we stop with the polarizing slurs and just, for one brief moment, acknowledge that there's a whole lotta space between you and the Left, that's filled with different ideas?
Yeah, I know: somewhere, monkeys fly out of somebody's butt.
