I've long been the lone voice of reason in my family. And years ago - many years ago, it seems - I actually made futile efforts in that great wasteland of political thought to call out with that lone voice, hoping to make at least one of them open their eyes. The last conversation I had with my father before his death was a rather violent argument over apartheid in Africa. That was nearly thirty years ago. I dearly wish, to this day, that hadn't been our last conversation. The last full throated effort I made to get folks to look beyond the surface of the words being used by the Republicans was over our great Bush & Co's invasion of Iraq. At that point, the vociferous receipt of my input caused me to realize I would be risking my cherished relationships with my beautiful nieces and nephews if I didn't silence that voice.
And so I spent the last decade simply avoiding political discussions. When someone else began them, I simply left if that was an option or sat and fumed if it was not, subjecting my poor husband to a tirade on the drive home. I accepted that I would have no influence on anyone's thought and that they were entrenched in their misguided beliefs, having been brainwashed by their religious and political leaders.
But I see a change in them in recent weeks and months, and I want to figure out how to take advantage of the current political climate to open their eyes as much as possible. I'm certain I'm not the only one in a position of seeing these changes in previously firm rightwingers and in need of figuring out how to take advantage of these changes, encouraging them to open their eyes even more, without scaring or offending them, pushing them back into the arms of the rethugs who are bent on destroying so much of what was once the strengths of this country.
Okay, I have to admit, I didn't totally silence my voice. Every once in a great while, I'd let slip some comment that I made as innocuous as possible to point out a flaw in the thought process or position of one of their great leaders. Usually adding something bad about some Dem at the same time, to prove my bona fides as not being a true leftie. They were routinely ignored, or at best, the comment about a Dem was latched on to with vengeance, while the comment about the rethug was ignored. I believe however, that those little seeds were worth spreading. For one thing, at least a couple of those beautiful nieces and nephews seem to have developed some ability to think for themselves, and aren't buying into the same religious and political mindset as their parents. Second, even my siblings might have been listening - just a little.
But times, they are achanging. And from what I see, the times are not going to be good for the Republicans. The last several times I slipped these little seeds into a conversation, they were met by quite different reactions.
When Bush was spouting his WMD nonsense and getting ready to go punish the guy who tried to hurt his daddy and I got onto my soapbox to rant against such a terrible step, my soapbox was emphatically kicked out from under me and trampled into the ground. I was shouted down with the patriotic fervor only those who believed God and The United States of America and George W. Bush are one and the same could exhibit.
But last night, with no input from me, the discussion was about what a terrible decision it was to go into these wars. And just a few days ago, the discussion was about how terrible it is that they're threatening to raise the SS age yet again, but won't tax the rich. And another time, it was about the fears for Medicare. And then there were the discussions of how terrible the drastic cuts to education are. And then there was the one about how bad discrimination is and how wrong that anyone should be victimized. Suddenly, my family - my religious, right wing fanatic family - are questioning their leaders. No, not just questioning - criticizing. And I don't hear anyone dissing the Health Care Reform or getting Osama or worrying about the deficit. Ever.
And when these discussions begin, I feel unprepared for them. I'm now so used to maintaining silence regarding either politics or religion around my family, I find myself sitting there, still in silence. After all, I hardly want to gloat and say "I told you so", (Well, okay, I do want to, but I don't think that will accomplish much.) And I figure that after so many years of buying into whatever crap the right wing shoved their way, they're going to need to ease out of that mindset gradually. I mean, how do you go from hating liberals and considering them godless, unpatriotic, something or others and embracing God Ronnie Reagan as the hero of the universe to judging the party of Reagan and voting for those godless liberals who were out to destroy religion and all that is good and pure?
I've played the "the crazies have taken over the Republican party" card a couple of times. Yeah, yeah, I know. The crazies have had the Republican party for quite a few decades. Reagan was the beginning of the crazies. But my trying to convince them of that is hopeless, and so I'm going to work with what I can. And, of course, the crazies are helping me tremendously with my efforts by permitting their evil intent to be seen by all. They've become so crazy, they actually believe their lies themselves and believe the voters will believe them as well. I think people like Ryan and Walker are actually crazy enough to think people really will support ending Medicare and gutting the Middle Class. They've gotten so deeply into their mindset, they can't fathom that others don't agree.
I've tried to be patient, as I've watched my family make slow progress towards becoming thinking, sentient beings. But it's hard going. The elections of 2012 will be here soon. I want to get some of those votes switched from the party of greed to the party of decency. And so I've decided I need to begin a campaign of my own. I need to develop a strategy of how to push without pushing too hard, how to point out the flaws without offending, how to close the sale. And I'm not certain how to do that.
As I said, I'm certain others are having similar experiences and probably have a similar need to walk that fine line. Perhaps, by sharing experiences, ideas, and strategies, we can indeed give a few folks that final push to move their cursors and pens over to the D column in 2012. So I'm going to open the floor for ideas, suggestions, questions, opinions, and more.