Not Much Comfort in Being a Liberal

by Susan Lenfestey

With Thanksgiving upon us and the election of 2004 fading like an old burn on soft flesh, it's time for us blue state losers to stop lying around under the bushes licking our wounds. (Wait. Wasn't it the bush doing the lying and us who got licked?) Other than a coterie of Democrats pegging their hopes on conspiracy theories of election fraud in Ohio, perhaps rightly, most Kerry supporters are plodding toward acceptance, looking for any silver lining to be thankful for in the cloud of defeat.

But it's hard to come by. This election loss felt like no other. There have been bigger trouncings and sadder losses, but they were like tornadoes, sucking the wind out and moving on, allowing hope to creep back in. This was like an iceberg calving, as if half the nation had sheered off, leaving a landscape we hardly recognize, with both sides hurling insults across the divide.

On Nov. 3, my e-mail box was filled with hate mail, full of suggestions that this paper can't print. The writers flogged me for being an "elite liberal" and gloated that I'd be utterly miserable for the next four years.

Now, that "elite" part, if true, means I'm going to be just fine -- maybe even get another tax cut, provided Armageddon doesn't get here first. And even if the draft is reinstated, most elite folks aren't going to see their children on the front lines in Iraq -- or Iran or wherever phase two of Bush's Holy War takes us.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1124-09.htm

a few days after the election. I'm out of the closet as an educated elite! No more will I apologise or try to hide. Anyone wants to call me a snobby elite, they are welcome. I hope they enjoy the next four years....heh heh heh.

but I'm not sure parading an elitist flag around is going to win any votes.

What needs to be paraded is a clearer message. Being the party of wishy-washy, middle of the roaders has done nothing for the progressive cause.

I vote for remaining in touch with those that progressivism is supposed to be helping: the working people of the world. For those of you that have had the opportunity to become members of the 'educated elite', use that education to deliver, debate and forward the message. Don't get all smug and better than thou about it. You may just chase off any hope of ever winning another national election (not that I'm very hopeful at the moment). =)

Just my opinion, of course.

moderate and liberal Republicans to deal with. There is nothing to stop these Facsists now!

As a real, live Christian (not the professional, Fundamentalist type) has said, "We strive to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable (with some sense of obligation to the less fortunate)."

And that's work, not fun. That's building houses, not tearing down the bleachers if your team loses. That's so un-ugly American, it hurts like bright light in unprotected eyes. It's unselfish, not thinking about oneself all the time. It is the anti-Bush!

so be it