How many of you know someone like this?
I also converted 3 years ago. The person you describe might as well be me.
I recall the tipping point, watching the Republican National Convention. Rudy Guliani was speaking, and I very vividly remember the hate and vitriol that was being spewed. Not only by Guliani, but by everyone who came up to the podium. It’s was very interesting yet disgusting, I had never seen that kind of unabashed ugliness. Guliani was literally bashing on Obama for having previously been a “Community Organizer”. He laughed every time he repeated the words. Maybe 3 or 4 times he said it while chuckling. What?? Are you kidding me? Is it now a folly to have human compassion and try to improve one’s community without seeking gain? I could not believe what I was watching.
From that point forward I started looking more closely at everything. I woke up and paid attention. Paid attention to what their true message was, and paid attention to the incredible spin and deceit required to dupe the other 99% of their voting base. I felt like a dupe. I also became much more introspected, and realized that I never truly aligned to their ideals. A was a misinformed, low-information, one or two issue voter.
Now I feel tremendous guilt. Embarrassed that I hadn’t seen the light earlier. My voting record for the past 20 years was a huge mistake. I was arguing for the WRONG side.And now, three years later it is even worse. The right has slid so far off to the extreme, it makes the 2008 election look gentle. They’ve gone off the rails, and people are cheering this on. It’s like so many people just wanting to pour gasoline on the flames of hate and fear.
I am now trying so hard to spread this message. It’s my personal repentance.
I know a few. For some it was finding no WMD in Iraq. For others it was the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina. For still others it was the Terri Schiavo ordeal. I suppose there are some casualties of Pailn, too. And the debt ceiling. And climate change. I knew one in Florida for whom it was John Bolton at the United Nations.
Everyone has a breaking point except the sociopaths.
