“I can’t believe you voted for the white guy!” Obama fans are incredulous when they meet me. I am a conservative white woman with biracial sons and a black ex-husband. And yes, I did not vote for the black guy.
I sigh deeply and explain. “Last time I checked, choosing one person over another because of his skin color is racism. I think it’s great we have a black president, he’s just not the right black guy.” I further explain that I vote for someone based on his or her beliefs and character, not color. Obama lovers are aghast, they are stunned, they don’t know what to say, for about five seconds ... and then it begins, as it usually does, the abusive, insulting, diarrhea-of-the-mouth tongue-lashing and character-bashing against poor little moi! It starts with being called a racist.
It’s okay, I’m used to it. Nearly all of my family and many of my friends voted for BO (my favorite presidential nickname), and some of them have been my harshest critics. In emails, at family functions, even on my Facebook wall, they have derided me, chastised me, and even gone so far as to insult my intelligence, simply because of my politics. While many have not come right out and said so, in their self-admittedly superior minds, I am stupid, brainwashed, delusional, and irrational and clearly “off my meds,” simply because I didn’t vote for the black guy. And of course, I am a closet racist.
My ex-husband (the right black guy for twelve years) didn’t vote for BO either. Like me, he believes in a small, fiscally-frugal government that serves the will of the people, not the alternative that the left is cramming down our throats. My ex can articulately express his politically incorrect (for a black guy) conservative point of view. I love and admire him for that. I wish I could say the same for some of my family and friends. They will NOT discuss the issues ... they just sling mud at my intelligence, my character, and my sanity.
Why? Like me, are they irrational, delusional imbeciles clearly in need of meds? Do they not have “the capacity to think through the details,” as Austin Hill, a columnist for Townhall.com proposes? Hmm ... my family and friends are bright, college-educated, successful people who have worked in the upper echelons of corporate America, they have been entrepreneurs, they have even been politicians! I venture to say it’s not their brain capacity or problem-solving ability or intelligence ... perhaps it’s simply the fact that they’ve been as brainwashed by the left as they think I’ve been brainwashed by the right?
Let’s suppose this is true, that they are in a lefty boat of brainwashed libs and I’m in a righty boat of brainwashed conservatives. What can we do? I propose we ask the mothers of the world. When someone slings mud at us, Mom taught us NOT to sling back. She told us NOT to lower ourselves to their level. We were told not to throw things or hit … we were told to use our words (the good kind). So I say, let’s do that: let’s tell them what’s wrong with what they’re doing and remind them to “do the right thing.” Explain what the RIGHT thing is, explain why it’s right, and hold firm to our belief in right and wrong. Bullies eventually lose, because even they, ultimately, learn that what they are doing is wrong, not right.
Each of us needs to stand up for our political point of view and speak out about what we believe in, without fear of recrimination or verbal abuse. Here’s what I tell people:
I want the small, fiscally-sound government our Founding Fathers envisioned; specifically, a government that serves us, not enslaves us, a government that works for us, not makes us work for them. I want my government to give me the opportunity to pursue happiness as I define it, not how the government defines it. I want my government to allow me and my sons to thank our Creator anywhere and in any way we like, not how and where the government says we can. I want my government to let me own a gun so I can protect myself, my sons, and my friends from people who want to kill us in our homes, our schools, and our workplaces. I want my government to secure our borders now, and then enforce our immigration laws by looking for, arresting, and deporting people who have entered our country illegally.
