Moving into a more tolerant society
By Ari Kaufman (01/29/06)
I moved again last week. It was my fourth move in the past six months during a transitional time in my life. But I think that this is the right move for me at this moment. Yes, I am with my girlfriend and residing in a cozy neighborhood, but there is more; I think I might be progressing into a more tolerant society with each relocation. Allow me to explain.
You see, I am a Republican. I am also Jewish and have spent my entire life in the most liberal, secular societies one could imagine. I have lived in Washington, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego, and in the past six months, I have added New York, Vermont and Maryland to my list of past residences. I have seen more anti-Bush stickers than the little blue New York Times bags that dot each long driveway on a daily basis in the elite suburbs outside Washington D.C. My friends and family mockingly introduce me as "Ari the Republican." To them, the 59 million who cast ballots for President Bush in 2004 are Middle American, religious, warmongering, uneducated rednecks. They don't know them nor trust them; they know nary a soul in the military, and they honestly don't want to. (However, they oppose the war because "our kids are getting killed." Thus, our story begins.)
Pickup trucks, Jesus, familial values and Wal-Mart are not welcome in their world of Hybrid car! s with Martha's Vineyard stickers, Whole Foods Markets, Ivy League offspring and anti-globalization rallies. And you thought Republicans were the party of the elite? Not since the counterculture ended, and most assuredly not in 2006.
However, now I am in South Florida; and even though, overall, this part of this Red State still votes Democratic, I see an improvement in my surroundings. I have actually spotted a few "Support our Troops" magnets, and unlike in LA or San Francisco, I doubt someone will rip them off the cars which don them.
The transformation of the two political parties, the vast separation of our red and blue nations, and the values (or lack thereof) that each stands upon, are striking. This all begins and ends with that reversal of the secular radicals' "bible" from the 1960s: tolerance.
Beginning with academia, it is now Conservative speech that has people full of ire, condemnation, and barricading their collegiate gates so that pro-US, pro-War or even Zionist speakers cannot speak. It is so ridiculously hypocritical that even a liberal Berkeley alum-friend of mine could attest to this when he mused, "These protesters, disallowing Conservative speech are the same people who spend all their efforts fighting for free speech."
Indeed the very same people who support horrific organizations like the ACLU, pand who purport to protect free speech and the "civil liberties" of all Americans, at the moment that speech (pro-life, pro-war, pro-death penalty) comes into conflict with their missions, they are in line to quell those words, and most certainly not in line to protect that speech.
Stories of double standards may very well run the political gamut, but left-wing hypocrisy currently knows no equal. Clearly this was again evident to this same fellow on the environmental front when he worked for Americorps. One day, environmental folks were complaining about the usual: SUVs polluting the air, alternative ! energy sources and the like. But, in a moment of sheer hypocrisy, when my buddy encouraged everyone to "take action" and walk the 3/4 mile to work instead of drive, no one volunteered. Apparently, their displeasure was not that strong when a air-conditioned van could prevent them from a 15 minute walk on a humid day in Georgia.
Deciphering the life of a coastal elitist is a fascinating and frustrating venture. When David and Debbie Democrat awake in their million dollar home in Potomac, Great Neck, Newton or Marin County, how exactly is their life or safety at the Starbucks on K Street in DC, the law office on Boston's North End or the non-profit venture in San Francisco being jeopardized by our soldiers' efforts in the Middle East? We know that they do not know these young men and women personally, and that the economy is better than ever, but somehow, their lives have turned to gloom and despair because of - insert your favorite anti-Bush canard - the awful state of our nation.
How is that, exacty? To be blunt, these are the same people that drool over every (Prosecutor) Patrick Fitzgerald indictment, each Michael Moore film, or weekly CNN/Gallup Bush Approval Poll ending with a wry smile of "we got them now." I have witnessed this exercise in absurdity more than once.
Their days are monolithic. They wake up to the New York Times and Katie Couric, watch CNN and MSNBC during their 9-5 workday, have dinner while watching Hardball, followed up by Larry King, then they put themselves to sleep by watching Jon Stewart and Bill Maher mercilessly bash our country and our president. Where is the space for objectivity and outside opinions, especially for their impressionable, private school educated children? Their intellectual eli! tism would never tolerate such defiance and open-mindedness.
But a funny thing happened on their way to the next Hillary Clinton fundraiser: Their children found the secret code to unlock the block they installed to prevent viewing of the "biased" Fox News Channel. Now suddenly, Bill O'Reilly and Shepherd Smith are opening their eyes to the beauty of our country, while exposing our adversaries within the terror networks, and publicizing Cindy Sheehan's disingenuousness the PC-dominated radical groups who appease these enemies, defame our soldiers and balkanize "minorities" by engulfing them in condescension via handout programs most of them do not seek.
While our college campuses may be dominated by liberal academics and moveon.org rallies, somehow, with all the odds and information stacked against them, the College Republicans club oftentimes outnumbers their Democratic counterparts. Even at Berkeley, the third most populated club as of 2001 was still the Young Republicans. When fear of public blackballing is overcome, college students have shown that political diversity is possible. And, thankfully, more and more students send their examples of blatant professorial biases to sites like Students for Academic Freedom.
Just like my story, progress and legislation against domineering forces that revel in lionizing Palestinians, condemning military recruiters and revising our historical triumphs is now a high priority for a large percentage of college students and young adults who were raised in societies where Conservatism was blackballed and dismissed as nonsense.
They say it's more "fun" to be liberal when you are young, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree. What 18 year old wouldn't invite opportunities to exhibit wanton behavior witho! ut having to take responsibility for it? They also say that, as we move along on our journey to adulthood, we find more room for conservatism and other veracious actions. Like my father and other family-friends noticed, we learn and observe more. As my next geographical move will likely be to another place more welcoming to conservatism, I hope more people will break free of the chains of narrow-mindedness like I did, and get an important head start on their maturity.
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