A reconciliation

The following is a letter from a friend of this blog.

Its time to kiss and make up. I’ve changed my facebook pic. I’ve weeded my garden of partisanship. I’ve oiled my squeaky political wheel. I’ve parked my 1974 Datsun with the 300-pound bull horn on top. This is a time of togetherness. It is time for those of us that put the “Rat” in Democrat to swig the communal bottle of Jack Daniels with those that put the “Pub” in Republican. The proverbial aisle is a short reach for a handshake. Our differences over taxation, human rights, foreign policy, the right to life, domestic energy, national offense and defense and health care are only ideas. And ideas are what breed conversation. Conversation leads to debate. Debate reveals enlightenment. And enlightenment is the path to enjoying each other for our commonality, while respecting our differences. Differences are natural while division is dangerous.

My humble apologies to any of you that I may have pissed off in the last few months. My comments, questions and declarations certainly embodied the spirit of healthy debate, but I know sometimes those things get personal. Thanks for listening to me. Thanks for your responses and rebuttals. My good friend Charlie McDanger once taught me that as a lifelong learner you want to be open to being persuaded in a discussion. Because if you are persuaded in a discussion, it means that you have just replaced your idea or your viewpoint with another which is better. And if you are not persuaded, you have decided that your own view was the better all along. If we are not persuaded from time to time, we stagnate and restrict our growth. I have grown a great deal over the past several months as the national debate, the community debate and our family debate has shaped my views. Thanks for persuading me and educating me on the subjects that are important to you. I am better off for it.

So let us unite under the star-spangled banner that symbolizes our sisterhood and brotherhood. Let us move forward into the future together. It is a future that is uncertain, yet inevitable. It is a future which requires folks of all creeds, religions and sexualities to caucus in our individual neighborhoods and exercise our American privileges with well-vetted grass roots movements that account for the viewpoints of not only our local communities but the collective interests of the entire world. Historic times, these very well may be. I look forward to making history with all of you…all the Democrats, all the Republicans, all the Independents, all the Greens, all the non-voters, all the other folks, all the Joe 6-Packs, all the Joe the Plumbers, even the USC Trojans and the inimitable Sarah Louise Heath Palin, together.

Most Respectfully,

ELJ

Commoner