Contending Conservatives the right way....

In my recent post DFA Training Works I said something that still sits with me as not quite accurate and fair.

Conservatives don’t care if the lady down the street has health care or not. Conservatives don’t care if our economy doesn’t work for working people. Conservatives want us to stay demoralized, sitting all alone in our houses, angry at the world. Conservatives want to tell people it’s a dog eat dog world, that people can’t trust the government. Every time we show up we challenge those conceptions to the very core of its vacuousness.

I can't really decide if I said it wrong, should have used other words, or kept it out all together. I know a number of Conservatives who do care about health care, about poverty, about all the things I speak about. They just disagree with me on the methods and approaches. I feel that they haven't looked very closely at the evidence and policy ideas surrounding those issues. And I feel they do not put up a great deal of effort in responding to my questions and challenges, aside from putting trust in Conservative leaders on TV and the radio.

I quite often feel angry at the lack of personal effort to back up ideas they passionately hold; past the creative talking points coming out of the media. But still I do meet conservatives who do care. I know they care because I see them worry how they are going to pay their bills, afford health care, save for retirement. And it probably offends them when I go strutting around my Liberal Friends saying they don't.

This morning on my walk, with the dog wandering back and forth and the moon hanging just above the trees I was thinking about something I saw at the King Center yesterday.

It was a quote from one of the video's on the civil rights protesters rules of behavior. It said you must always be respectful, stay calm, look forward, do not respond, do as directed by the group leader. He then went on to say the reason... "we aren't fighting our neighbors... we're fighting for equal rights..."

That kept sticking with me all day yesterday and this morning. As Chairman of the Henry County Democrats I have to focus a lot of economic and social frustration. I know personally as a human rights activist it is mind-boggling that my country and my president is now the focus of much of my human rights focus. It is almost unreal. So many times people want to vent... I do it myself.

The question is what are we fighting for?

I'm fighting for everyone in this country to have health care. I'm fighting for decent wages, education, and opportunity for all Americans. I'm not fighting my neighbor. And it would be wise on my part not to waste time using words and condescending phrases that might not allow them to hear the issues, statistics, and arguments I use to address and change those problems.

I think if I could go back I might say something to the effect of: Conservatives put a higher priority on personal choices than on making sure we all have health care. Personally I'm will to sacrifice a little so that others won't have to suffer. Conservatives put a greater value on personal wealth, and personal hard work paying off, over the strength and welfare of our economy as a whole. They see us as individuals, Liberals see us a complex social group.

That might help me not make it "me against my neighbor" and turn it into "me advocating for my neighbor. All of them to be exact."