Our dinner with liberals
Tonight was a rather interesting evening.
Barb and I went out with a new friend of mine and his wife. New friend (NF) is also a tech blogger, and he and I have an amazing number of things in common. I like NF, and respect the depth of knowledge he’s gained over the years (he’s older than I am), and know that he’s extremely intelligent on tech topics.
NF’s wife, who I’ll refer to as NFW, and Barb got into a spirited discussion this evening that went downhill very quickly, as we found out that NF and NFW are quite liberal. The discussion started with religion (we’re all ELCA Lutherans), and gradually turned to politics. Barb and NFW were pretty much going at it all evening, while NF and I were trying to maintain some semblance of civility and talk about something other than politics. After all, we’re both tech bloggers so we have a lot in common in that area.
The attempt at being civil blew up at one point when NFW made some comment about how BHO was the obvious choice for President because “he went to Harvard.” I don’t like getting angry, but I did at that point. Why someone would say that just because someone is an Ivy League lawyer, they’re better equipped than 99.99999% of the rest of the American population to rule this country is absolutely absurd. NF then surprised me by making the assertion that “we should choose the rulers of our country at random from a pool of college graduates.”
Oh, yeah. I’m sure that’s what the founding fathers had in mind… Let’s leave the governing of the many to the elite few. But I digress…
My rational mind, after shouting and using a few choice expletives, decided that I had gone too far, and I decided to apologize at that point for my tone of voice. We then had to listen to comments about global climate change, health care reform, how “stupid” Sarah Palin is, and all the other favorite memes of the left. Barb did her best to counter what NFW was throwing at her, but we were being too civil and kept backing down.
The evening went quite well, considering that neither Barb nor I overturned the table or punched anyone (not that I’ve ever done that…but I sure felt like it at a few points). We all departed after a few hours, with a promise that we’d get together again at another restaurant and not talk about politics. But in retrospect, I wish we hadn’t backed down.
These well-meaning people don’t seem to realize just how dangerous this current administration is, and they think that everything coming out of Washington is just hunky-dory. They’re like the proverbial frog in the pan of water, enjoying the gradually warming temperature. At some point, when the water is boiling, they’re going to realize that they’re in a world of hurt. Those of us who realized our predicament and jumped out of the pan early on are going to be the survivors.
It bothers me that things are getting this divisive in our society any more. Unless we go out with another couple that shares our exact political views, things tend to go to shit this way. The liberals tend to sneer at those of us with a more conservative mindset, and that elitist attitude makes us angry. They say they don’t want to fight about politics, but they sure won’t stop talking about it. It’s not just NF and NFW; we’ve seen this with a number of people, some of whom we’ve been very good friends with for a long time.
At one point, Barb made the comment that this divisiveness was probably going to eventually result in a war of conservative values versus liberal lack of values. While NF and his wife both scoffed at this comment, I think Barb’s right. If anything, things have gotten worse since January of 2009, since our “leader” isn’t a healer — he’s a divider. Anyone who doesn’t follow his line of thinking is a racist, and those of us who have spent our lives trying to ignore demographic differences are now being painted with the racist label. If we don’t want more government jammed down our throats, we’re un-American. The Speaker of the House calls most of middle America, the folks that we identify with the most, Nazis. Sorry, Nancy, but we’re just not going to take that kind of insult lying down.
Change begins at the local level, and we’re going to have to start working for change, starting with the 2010 mid-term elections. If that change means that I have to pick my friends so that I don’t have to get into arguments with them, that’s what’s going to happen. Sorry, NF. If you read this, understand that I do still have respect for your tech creds. But I think you’re a total idiot when it comes to politics.
