My high school government teacher told us that the definition of a Conservative was someone who wanted to go back to the old ways of doing things, including slavery. He emphasized that – conservatives like slavery. I thought it was odd even then that, in conservative Texas, no one in class seemed to really think that was an odd definition. Or maybe we were just all afraid of the grade so kept our mouths shut. Little did I know that this was just the way things were going to be from now on.
But did anyone really expect what is happening now? I mean, sure, there has always been an effort
by people to shut down discussion by calling other people names. I’m talking about the people who take any
criticism of Obama as “racism,” or those who talk about a “war on women” when
we want to end the murder of babies.
These people have always been around, and they are so blinded by their
own rhetoric that it’s nearly impossible to have a conversation with them.
But they’ve always been the kooks, the fringe, the blind
followers. These are the people who make
the news out of their incredible silliness, not because they have a point. But when people near me – friends, neighbors,
coworkers, etc. – start repeating the same nonsense, it starts to concern me. When I see people at work who really thought
that voting against Obama meant that Big Bird would go off the air, I start to
really wonder about where we’re going as a people.
