"We Are A Nation Of People Who CAN Change" - Confessions Of A Loyal Bushie

Red to Blue: Confessions of a Former Loyal Bushie
by LarsThorwald
Tue May 08, 2007 at 10:27:31 AM PDT

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Act IV: What Have You Learned, Dorothy?

There's a scene in my mind, from early fall 2004, when my parents came to my house for a visit. I was standing in my front yard with a rubber mallet pounding a Kerry/Edwards sign in my lawn when their car pulled up. It was a bright autumn day and neighbors were out cleaning gutters, mowing lawns, watching their kids playing in the street. It's a decidedly Republican neighborhood, and I was sure they were all evaluating me as some kind of pinko commie, but I didn't care. It felt good to do it.

My dad the retired Navy Chief got out of the car, and as my mom went to say hello to my wife and see our two kids in the driveway, he walked over to where I was standing.

He considered the sign for a moment, and then me. And in a moment that plays out like a bizzarre opposite of those Army Commercials where the father tells the son how proud he is for joining the Army, my Dad said to me: "I'll tell you what, this Iraq thing is a mess, isn't it? It's just like Vietnam all over again."

That was the first time I had ever heard my dad utter the word Vietnam, let alone anything deeply political.

I didn't carry the conversation further than saying, "Sure is," because I didn't need to.

I had changed. My wife had changed. Friends of mine had changed. And when my dad said what he said, there on my lawn, I knew that a part of him had changed, too.

There were a lot of us who had. Not enough, as it turned out, not then.

But we were a nation in change. I think that change continues. Polls reflect it, the elections have reflected it. The public debate reflects it.

And in the end, I think this confession comes with this small message of hope. We are a nation of people who can change.

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much more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/8/101535/6117

I'm going to go over to dailykos later to read this more closely, but do we really care if all they've changed their minds about is the war? Are they still greedy? Do they still believe in "survival of the fittest" and all that jazz?