Liberals - Is Our Tolerance A Bad Thing In An Election? Too Tolerant Of Stupidity?

[Median Democrat]

Liberalism. One of the great things about liberals is that we are supposed to embrace diversity of religion, race and viewpoints, and tolerate and try to understand or at least tolerate the viewpoints of people with whom we disagree, Yes, there are a lot of obnoxious so-called liberals, but conservatives do not even pretend to be understanding of opposing viewpoints. Rather, the RW celebrates their intolerance with contempt for those who disagree with them. See the numerous bestsellers by RW pundits accusing liberals of treason.

The issue in an election is whether this works against us. This board is replete with stories of DUers getting confronted sometimes physically by RW thugs who obnoxiously, and without any shame spread racist smears, and repeat falsehoods regarding what Obama and the Democrats stand for. They gleefully repeat the latest talking point from Fox News with an air and smugness developed from years of being weaned on Rush Limbaugh. They even have sublimated the deceptive types of arguments raised by Limbaugh such as casting Obama's positions in absolutes ("Are you saying that raising taxes always raises revenues? Well, why don't we just raise taxes to 100%, but then why would people work?!?!?") or trying to prove a negative ("Obama has to prove to me that he is not a socialist!").

So, what does a liberal do? Do we passively watch the news, contribute, and rely on the "Obama campaign" to carry our water as liberals and spread the word that Bush's policies don't work, and the McCain just offers more of the same? Do we passively sit back and hope that some day the MSM will see the error of its ways, and fairly and accuratety cover McCain and make up for its complicity in the Iraq war? Do we passively sit back, and hope that some day, some magical candidate walks on water, who is immune from criticism, and waltzes into the White House with negative ads bouncing off him or her?

My take is that we liberals have been a tad bit too tolerant and passive these past elections. How many of us have a relative or friend who is a borderline McCain supporter who passively offers defenses to John McCain, and we chuckle and shrug without making a patient and reasoned explanation regarding why another 4 to 8 years of Republican rule would be devastating? How many of us fail to respond to the passive, aggressive "or, they are all politicians, anyways?" Or, "McCain? He is pretty moderate. I could live with him as a Republican."

My take is that for the Democrats to win, we each need to take this election a little bit more personally. We need to individually get a little more invested in it, rather than passively contributing, and relying on the Obama campaign, the DNC or fellow DUers to spread the word. Yes, you many not have time to march at a rally or sit at a table, but anyone can actively work to convince one borderline person to vote for the Democratic ticket.

This is a democracy, which means we are responsible for the outcome of this election. Elections are not won merely by radio ads and speeches. They are also won at the kitchen table or at the lunch counter in casual conversation. There is no need to be obnoxious or worse engage in illegal acts of intimidation. That is what the RW does when they burn signs or deface democratic offices. Rather, we need to be persistent in spreading the word, and that means moving beyond preaching to the choir on this board.

We have a right of free speech. Its about time that liberals begin to use it, as opposed to passively and tolerantly listening to the bs spouted off by the RW.

[Median Democrat]

1. Kick - Anyone agree or disagree? Way To Counteract Big Media?

We have all expressed outrage regarding how Big Media is covering the election. Any thoughts on how to respond?

[Blue_Tires]

2. that doesn't describe everyone

i've run out of breath challenging the opinions of family members who are too afraid to vote for a 'muslim' president....

[Median Democrat]

3. Keep Up The Good Work!

I know from personal experience how hard it is to deal with family members who are dead set against voting Democrat. However, there is some daylight dealing with the folks who are on the fence. The harder part are the folks who are closet RWrs who passively, aggressively refuse to consider any new information, rather than actually defend their decisions, they passively refer to anonymous smears on the internet.