Points of political convergence - Democratic Underground

MadHound

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Mon Sep-20-10 07:24 AM
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Points of political convergence

Living in various Red areas of a Red state, there's one thing I learned long ago. When you talk Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, you're going to get a distinct split in the population. Knee jerk reactions take over, ingrained loathing kicks in, and that divide that separates the population quickly goes from a crack to a chasm.

But when you talk issues, things change radically and drastically.

I stumbled upon/created a good example of this over the weekend.

Poking around Free Republic, just to see what they were thinking, I ran across this thread:

"Do The Math:With One Trillion Dollars,You Can Create 25 Million Jobs?At $40,000 A Year!

Posted on Sat Sep 18 23:53:05 2010 by JohnThune2012

Get Your 15/16 Digit Calculator Out And Do The Math.Divide One Trillion By $40,000. This is a story they should bring up on FOX News.And to think they created a few jobs with over 100 Million in California? And keep in mind,we only needed to create about 8 Million Jobs! TWO TRILLION DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN! And It's Our Money That Obama Flushed Down The Toilet!
TOPICS: Issues; Parties; U.S. Congress; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on Sat Sep 18 23:53:09 2010 by JohnThune2012
< Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies>
To: JohnThune2012

Couldn’t agree more!!! I have always wondered about this. Where the f^ck are the shovel-ready jobs Oidiot???? You promised. They STOLE the money. Period."
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2592048/posts>

OK, ignoring the insults and the troglodyte posts, a fair number of these people are essentially are taking a fairly liberal stance on how to handle our current unemployment. Many agree, and would support, a large scale WPA style job creation program. Shades of FDR!

To drive this point home a bit further, I posted this poll here yesterday

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9162550>

Of course, most of the folks around here, being liberal and caring folks, were in favor of a trillion dollar jobs creation program. About the only difference between the FR and DU is the tone, and intelligence level, of the comments left.

The point that I'm trying to make here with all of this is that we have more in common with the other side of the political spectrum than we either know, or even care to acknowledge, and perhaps we can come together over points of commonality, like jobs, in order to move this country forward.

It is a fact that, since the time of Bacon's Rebellion, the elite in this country have deliberately worked to drive wedges into the solidarity of the middle and working classes. Wedges of racism, wedges of politics, wedges of hot button issues. How many people do we all know who espouse liberal views on many issues, but who vote conservative because of some wedge issue like guns or abortion?

The reason for this is the simple fact that liberal folks and conservative folks actually, outside the hot button issues, have more in common with those of us on the left than we would like to think. After all, they're in the same socioeconomic class as us, have the same problems, and have thought through things to some of the same solutions. The corporate and elite don't want either side to recognize this, but the truth is that a middle class or working class DUer and a middle class or working class FRer have more in common with each other than we have been led to believe.

Furthermore, if we want to advance this country forward, we as a people have to overcome the artificially constructed divides that separate us in order to advance the many issues that we have in common. The elite and wealthy classes in this country have constructed these artificial divides that separates the middle and working classes in order to benefit themselves. The specter of liberals and conservatives actually coming together to advance real change in this country scares the elites no end.

So the next time you find yourself in the company of a conservative, why not try to find the points of commonality that you have with them. Jobs, the economy, the sad state of our manufacturing sector, education, all of these and more you will find points of convergence. Why not work with these people, bring them into the fold so to speak so that we present a united front based on the natural division

I have found out a secret, living in very red parts of a very red state. If you don't talk "politics" with a conservative, but rather talk about issues, you will find that person, in many cases, will agree with you and furthermore, will agree to support the more liberal candidate if they see that their particular issue is better addressed by Democrats and liberals than by conservatives. This type of conversion process has to be done one on one, and it can take awhile, but it will pay off in the end. Sure, conservatives will not support pro-choice stances, or agree with you on other such hot button issues.

But by joining together on the issues we do have in common, we can not only put the fear of the people in the hearts of the elite and wealthy, but we can make huge gains on issues that unite us, and thus make for a better society for all.

So don't automatically dismiss conservatives out of knee jerk, automatic loathing based on stereotypes and media manipulation. Rather, talk with them, find out where your interests intersect with them, and then work together to progress this country for everybody. Otherwise, the working and middle classes in this country are going to remain divided, and as always, easy to conquer.