I'll tell you what the problem is. Here in Mathews County Virginia, where I have lived since 1998, about 60% or more of my friends and neighbors are republicans to one degree or another. I am active in the community and have been for some time. I am secretary of the Mathews Lions Club a member of the Gwynn's Island Civic League, have been president of the Mathews Art Group and have my paintings in the MAG gallery as well as one month displays in local banks. There's more, but you get the picture. Our car and truck are filled with stickers for people like Obama, Warner, etc. I even have an ImpeachBush.org sticker on my truck. I write letters to the editor often and there are few people who know me who can be confused about the political party I end up supporting, even if reluctantly at times (I am a charter member of the Democratic Socialists of America). Here's the problem. We have this two party system that I detest with a passion, so I keep getting asked to defend people like Nancy Pelosi, for example. Come below the break and let's examine this situation further.
When I am challenged in that way, I come right out and tell the person that Pelosi is almost as guilty as the Bush/Cheney axis for neglecting her oath of office when she failed to investigate their crimes. That often ends the conversation. other times I will be confronted with "But isn't she a democrat?" By the way, almost none of these folk will call themselves republicans. They are all "Independents". A few are actually Libertarians and will say so. That makes for some interesting discussion until they realize that I subscribed to the Journal of the Cato Institute for years and read all of Ayn Rand. They then change the subject since they don't have a clue what Libertarianism is all about.
I have lived and worked for over a year each in Israel, France, and Germany and for extended periods in Italy. I also worked with the Canadian government when I was making computer models of the ecosystems of some of the Great Lakes. You might think that during that time I would have picked up at least some useful information. They could care less. We know all there is to know right here in America and it comes to us daily on Fox News.
I have been writing diaries here for over a year and many focus on the books of George Lakoff who I think has some great insights into this phenomenon of our political "mind". The thing I have combined with Lakoff's teachings is an elaboration of the central role that causality plays in forming and distinguishing people's world views. The simple, "one size fits all" notion of how things happen that Lakoff calls direct cause is what enables the stuff I have described above to exist on the scale it does. It is not unique to reactionary right wing politics for it also shows up in religion and Cartesian reductionist science of all places!
So that is the scenario for my question to you folk here at DKos. Just one more point. This actually is crucial. People do not do things they don't want to do, especially if their "moral" sense tells them it is wrong. Subversion is a trait that has persisted for as long as we have history and must have been there before that. So as we forge ahead with the new changed society, what do you think about these folk around me? Do you think they will change because of what they observe happening? Do you think we will all be pulling together? Do you think they will stop lumping all democrats into one big box with people like Nancy Pellosi as the example of what is in that box? As the days go by, I already have had too many conversations about deficit spending where the Bush administration seems to have vanished from recent history. Any hints? Any suggestions? I am tired of it!