Conservatives, Let’s Change Perceptions Now
by Deanna Murray“Wait a second, you’re a singer. You’re a journalist AND you’re a conservative,” he said, rather surprised.
“Yeah … is that wrong?” I said.
“No, it’s just unexpected … and rare,” he responded.
I’ve been meeting a lot of new people lately. This is a blessing and a curse in Washington DC, as sooner or later politics WILL come up. It’s just how things are around here. And as a singer in a band, I encounter a ton of people who gravitate towards the band’s sound, my voice or something I’ve said on stage and conversations start.
Sometimes, these conversations are uncomfortable and the person I am talking to kinda backs away slowly when I mention conservatism or anything seen as ‘right-wing’ .. And other times, intense conversation takes place.
What I find though, is we as conservatives are bound to stereotypes so entrenched in the mind of the general population it’s hard for anyone to see us as who we really are. It’s like the minute I voice my political views and they’re of differing opinion, I am no longer the cool person who just caught their attention singing ‘Kiss Me’ or some other fun-loving song on stage. I’m now…just a conservative. Not a person. Not a pretty voice. Just a conservative, as defined by the media.
I know it all goes back to getting rid of labels and we can preach until we turn blue about how we want the left to see us for who we are and not the fanatics within our faction or the way the media paints us. But that’s a passive way of getting other people to take responsibility for the change we need to insight. Our preaching at, or to each other doesn’t get the job done. It just passes the buck, so to speak. We need to live the change we want to see and work towards it.
When I am in conversation with liberals I work with or perform with (I am the only conservative in my band), I often find myself saying “there are extremes on every side. So, I’ll stop dumping all you libs into one bucket if you’ll stop doing the same to us conservatives.” … And while in theory it’s a great thing to say, I’ve realized once again my saying it has thrown first draw on the liberals … and as long as they don’t change, I’ve not obligated myself to change either.
In very plain English, I am sick and tired of being seen as something I am not. As in pretty much every group, there are degrees, levels and diversity in membership and ideas.
This is how great thought and debate happens. This is how we redefine positions, make change and also grow as a thoughtful people. We all share, strategize and sometimes, see things through the eyes of people who’ve experienced their patriotism in different ways.
What ever happened to us not judging people for one aspect of their lives, but as their whole? Actions of many are louder than the actions of one if we simply don’t allow those fanatical actions to overshadow us.
Case in point: Do we condemn airlines as a whole because one plane crashes? Do we demonize the entire industry and stop flying? No. We know the odds. We know airtravel is safe and the accident rate is low. So why aren’t we as forgiving with actual people when it comes to the fanatical factions within them?
Conservatives are doctors, lawyers, TV directors, actors, journalists, singers, seamstresses, Wall Street tycoons and a ton of other things. Some are church goers, some aren’t. Some believe in God, some don’t. But for some reason, all that is forgotten when we actually tell people where we stand. We just become ‘that conservative over there …’ or …‘that right-wing fanatic.’ All of our coolness disappears and we’re nothing but a label, defined by other people … people we don’t agree with.
The passion and emotion political views insight on either side fuel the negative opinion this world has of us. It makes it to where we sometimes are only comfortable talking about our views in our own circles. Or we are afraid to tell others who we are because we don’t want to be judged for one aspect of our lives.
But it really does need to be our mission to change perception. Every single person knows perception is reality … and the perception the media puts out there – that our President puts out about a group of his own citizens – is tainted, disrespectful and flat out wrong. We need to defiantly say we’re not going to take it any more and we are going to show this country who we are.
Does being a conservative mean we’re not a group of kick-ass fun-loving people? Damn, I don’t think I got that memo … at least I hadn’t when I was out at the roller derby last weekend (first time ever …and it was a good time) hollering it up with a bunch of my girlfriends (maybe they passed that memo out at the last Glenn Beck rally, which apparently all conservatives attend …) …Or maybe it was said from the pulpit during the that Sunday service I missed a few weeks back (because the roller derby was REALLY fun) …
If we want to take back our country we have got to show the brainwashed who we really are. That we have high standards, but are as human as they are. That we have a vision and a reason for believing what we do – and we still know how to live. This may seem superficial, but we’ve been painted into a grey-suited box, complete with pocket protector and fire and brimstone Bible …
So are we going to do something about it? Or are we cool with letting the ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue’ mentality we’ve let run ruin our conservative reputations and perception for … oh, let’s say … FOREVER …keep us boxed in?
Let’s mobilize. Let’s show who we are – the real us … and let this world know we can debate AND party with the best of em and we’re not ashamed to be called Conservative … but it’s on OUR terms. Not theirs.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
82 Comments
I have noticed this phenomenon also. Most times, I find it better to keep opinions to myself, unless I see the person has an open mind.
Most all liberals are completely closed minded, vindictive, and elitist ( snarky).
Discussions are not possible, just insults and hard feelings. Not good in a hospital setting..
The Civil Was was nothing compared to this unCivil war..
Ann
Happiest when around the open and like-minded..
Amen. So many don't really understand that Conservatives just advocate morals and common sense.
Federalist #12
Prosperity comes from energies of the people, not from the government. The faster that money circulates through through the economy, the more the government will have available to it through taxes.
Original quote: "The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesman to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become the primary object of their political cares."
Lately my conversations on conservatism have been more and more welcomed. In part because I have been polishing my style but also in no small part because people are more curious as they look for answers to their own personal problems and become more open minded to other points of view.
Keeping the conversation on the subject not the person is key. Most people seem all too ready to play intellectual gymnastics if they feel confident that they won't get hurt.
Why do you have a picture of an evil RINO up there? He raised taxes! He's unamerican!
When did it become popular to trust or depend on government? Throughout most of my life government was considered a total joke that failed miserably at every turn, now it is heresy to want to reign it in.
Very nice article, Deanna. "… and let this world know we can debate AND party " – therein lies the problem, IMO. The left knows that true Conservatives can debate and always win because we are armed with facts, specifics, not just hearsay and opinions.
Case in point: My hubby heard this guy saying how he loathed Sarah Palin. And the guy actually considers himself a Republican. When asked why (specifically) he said oh, there's just too many things – I can't come up with one right now. So, hubby listed out a host of her accomplishments. He was a bit smitten and said he'd have to look into it. Surprisingly, this same thing happened with my daughter. Shocker. She had done the same thing, but when presented with the facts, decided to check it out for herself.
Bottom line, the left does not think for themselves these days. They prefer the hearsay and opinion, IMO.
I got a liberal friend of mine to watch Red Eye with me. He laughed, but he also said that he was surprised conservatives would agree to be on such a show. "It seems to go against a lot of things they believe in," he said. I suggested that maybe conservatives had a wider range of beliefs and positions than he had thought.
Very clever way of proving the point! +1!
If one thinks conservative is a vulgar word, mention that you are in the TEA party. That generally produces looks and comments that were similar during the inquisition and witch trials. However, I do see a change. Many folks, even though the LSM trashes us constantly, are starting to wake up and realize that maybe we aren't the evil, mean and despicable folks we have been painted to be. Hope springs eternal.
Well, TRS, I see that you are back and your site has changed from a poorly-written, self-important blog to a lame discussion forum. At least your header pic is a little less generic, I'll give you that.
Can only imagine your working environment, Ann. And in your neck of the woods – a lot of union members.
The left won't tell the truth and that is the absolute truth!
They attack people like:
Herman Cain, Deneen Borelli, Rev CL Bryant, Thomas Sowell, Angela McGlowan, Tim Scott, Charles Lallar, David Webb, Timothy F Johnson, Clifton Bazar, Alonzo Rachel, Lloyd Marcus and Cedra Crenshaw without ever considering they might be rational, sincere or correct.
Simply because the democrat party is deeply threatened by the fact that there are black or hispanic republicans OR conservatives at all, anywhere in America.
The democrat party is even more concerned that black republicans threaten the stranglehold of dependency they have built up in black and hispanic communities over the last 50 years.
The leftists have absolutely Jack Squat in their debate tank that even remotely resembles a rational reason as to why the democrat party hates black or hispanic people who refuse to dance to their siren song.
Especially LGBTs, blacks and hispanics.
Exactly where did the the DNC, DCCC and DSCC spend almost exactly HALF of all of their national congressional campaign treasuries in the 2010 election?
They spent all of that money to defeat just fourteen candidates for congress while they had more than 100 seats at risk, all fourteen were black candidates and only two were eventually elected.
I used to be a democrat, I shamefully admit to voting for Mondale, Dukakis and Clinton 1992 but "I didn't inhale" or continue drinking the proglodyte Kool-Aid after Clinton and Schumer tried to go for national gun confiscation.
This is the absolute truth of the poisonous politics of race and how the left has been manipulating (enslaving) blacks and hispanics with promises of more crap and welfare paid for by "those other people" that actually pay all of taxes.
The black and hispanic communities are promised they'll get all of the goodies they want so long as they keep voting for their sugar daddies and keep defeating those mean old "Uncle Tom" and "Gabacho" Republicans…
I am absolutely ashamed to think that I ever supported the race hustler / slave master democrat party.
I especially apologize with the greatest humility to the entire nation for ever helping to elect Senator Ron Wyden.
Got that right…Many drones, here outside Philadelphia, spouting union propaganda..
I just marvel, how sadly, in the dark they are, not realizing, without a specialized skill, they're just overhead.
I'm not sure how much longer we'll be here. But for the time being, I bite my tongue..
Ann
I miss Idaho..
Keep in mind, you're in DC, a place that survives almost completely on government spending. Not exactly a good place for a representative sample
One of the reasons leftism is more socially acceptable is that it seems to have a critical mass in social situations, sort of like mass hysteria. It is just more vocal and people who follow the crowd always go toward the loudest noise, and often mimic that noise, causing a chain reaction of sorts. Once a large amount of people appear to believe in leftism, it is easy to paint conservatives as those other people.
Just say you are a realist because you are. It will befuddle them and they won't know what box to put you in but they might listen to you and you can rationally move them away their immature ideas. They don't know why they believe what they do.
This is what I’m talking about!
Pondering questions like… “Why won’t Obama Suggest any Serious Spending Cuts?” is volunteering to fight the fight using their rules. Screw the compromise narrative!
Once again it seems to take conservative women to give practical advice on how to take the fight to them.
I ask myself why is it that conservative women understand this and many conservative men in the media don’t.
And may I ask……..Is there a Mr. Murray, Miz Murray?
Great points all, from a very good looking redhead!
I hear a lot of "kill all the lawyers" comments from fellow conservatives all the time, as if we're all lounging about Burning Tree in silk stockings and comparing the sizes of our latest extortion-money lawsuit settlement checks.
While the real truth is, most lawyers will do "ok" and make a decent living, but they'll never come close to any "halls of power" other than the local courthouse.
And just for hoots and grins, I like to remind them that 3 of the 4 drafters of the Declaration of Independence were – horrors! – lawyers themselves.
It tends to settle people down and bring 'em back to reality. Which makes it a whole lot easier to talk about beer, barbeque and Bachmann!
I have a guy I work with who I really respect and he respects me. He has absolutely no qualms with shoving his liberal politics in my face. I don't cower. I simply say—well isn't it good to know that we live in a free country where we can all have opinions. You have yours and I have mine. *Big Smile*
Works every time. No way am I going to accept the false narrative about conservatives.
You illustrate why we should never “compromise” with you.
Ann Coulter talks about this very angle in her book "Demonic". When a 'crowd" becomes a "mob", it's not a pretty sight.
Better to head for the hills..
Ann
Mob mentality equals most union gatherings..
I know, that's why Elliot Spitzer who was armed with nothing but facts completely shutdown the slack jawed yokel from Freedomworks who was all talking points and simple minded tea party crap, while on Bill Maher.
Liberal definition of "compromise" = surrender.
Elliot Spitzer shut you down? That must have been embarrassing.
Ooh! Excellent idea!
Was that after Spitzer hired a whore?
Very good comeback.
I tell them I am classic liberal, which I am. Libertarian is classic liberalism. In fact most of the time I challenge them on if they are even liberal, in which most cases they are not.
You have to realize there's a lot of scummy progressives out there pretending to be liberals. The true liberals are usually reasonable people you can discuss things with. They are usually misguided in the notion government can fix things.
Its the progressives who are the bad guys. They are the ones who believe liberty is a curse and that man kind must be controlled. They don't even care they are liberal and most don't even understand the nature of true liberalism.
What you maybe dealing with is more of an individualist vs collectivist situation. Look at most of the debates you get into. Are they issues of the progressives wishing to impose the collective on the individual? Do you get a lot of utilitarian arguments? Social contract arguments?
The real divide is the individual vs the collective. Its the collectivists that are the ones you must concern yourself with.
Great questions to ask progressives for fun:
1. What is the "progress" in progressivism and can you name something specific other than repeating the word "progress" and the word "like" over and over? (note planned societies are not new).
2. Why is progressivism always force?
3. Why is my or others' forced participation required for progressivism to work?
4. Why is nothing progressives support voluntary?
5. Why can't progressives just form their own health care coop with their own money and run it like France's or Canada's system?
6. How does one plan society without imposing one view upon everyone else?
7. What do you mean by "works"?
8. Why isn't prison a progressive utopia when it meets all the requirements of progressivism?
9. If you believe taxation and big gov work then do you voluntarily pay more taxes than are asked of you? Do you give all your disposable income to the government? Do you ever take a tax deduction?
10. If equality is fairness then is it fair if everyone is shoveling coal in the pit of hell?
11. Show me the social contract and NO the constitution is NOT a social contract.
12. If humans are inherently evil and government is required to keep them under control then who keeps the gov under control since its composed of inherently evil people?
Interesting timing Deanna.
"You know what — I am sick and tired of all the so-called mainstream pundits out there lambasting the Tea Party. Those who know me, and know me well, know that I am not some right-wing nutbar but come on. Why is everyone so scared about committing to a balanced budget amendment?"
This quote could have been written by anyone of us. Conservative? I dunno. I know what I believe and if that makes me a "conservative" then so be it. Right & Wrong. I CALL IT LIKE I SEE IT. And in the last 4-5 years my calls have been money in more ways than one
But I didn't write that quote. That quote was written by David Rosenberg to his Gluskin Sheff clients. Rosie provided a key piece of the puzzle that convinced me to get every dollar under my management into cash in the early part of Q4 2007.
Guys like Rosie don't make personal politics part of their analysis. It's not their job. To me this speaks volume of the impact of the Tea Party. It speaks volume to how "a group of kick-ass fun-loving people" who lose their coolness (with D-Baggers) because of their hardcore principles are making SERIOUS in-roads with guys like Rosie.
"OUR terms. Not theirs." We are kicking ASS.
Don't tell me OffhisAntipsychotics got a gig at Freedomworks!? Don't they screen?
For decades the MSM ran wild with actual discrimination campaigns of lies and fictions targeting conservatives as several different targets.
There was one aimed at the US Armed Forces and it's people getting it's momentum and direction from John Kerry.Achievers were attacked by the SDS and weathermen…Gun owners attacked by a nasty lie-machine called and Handgun Control Inc. and they all spewed invented facts for the media to hit Americans with! and shape policy with in Washington.
Not mentioned there are the liberal left-directed attacks on God and Christianity and on law enforcement. Decades of abuse of intended conservative targets by abuse of Americans entitled to facts and truth from their government and the MSM about fellow Americans.
THAT is what we're all up against as we talk to other Americans all congratulating themselves for being anything BUT a conservative. They've been pummeled with soft and hard discrimination campaigns hidden in plain sight!
Never let a lefty or lib say they oppose discrimination. THEY DO NOT! They wage the most vile and offensive discrimination campaigns in modern history. And to divide Americans.
Why do you hate old people?
That's what liberals say when I tell them I don't want gov't "providing" for my retirement, nor the retirement of anyone else.
#3 and #12 are my favorites. IMO libertarianism is the logical conclusion to being a conservative and a liberal. The idea that I shouldn't force my ideas and morals on someone else and they shouldn't force theirs on me.
#12 is sometimes referred to as Hobbe's fallacy.
Old pogressive saying:
Teach a man to fish and he doesn't need you anymore.
Feed a man a fish and he needs you for a lifetime.
I think Antibio boi WAS Spitzer's hired whore.
They keep trying to tie us into crap we are not part of. We are American Exceptionalists. We are “Individual Responsibility Citizens” Our money serves the family and society more effectively when it is spent by the individual person or family, not government. They waste a high percentage. We have “nothing” to do with Fascism, Socialism, or Global Control Freaks.
I don’t think most of us have anything to do with European politics. The media Statists, use the “Wing” thing as a tool. We can’t control too much of that yet. However, I think it is important to control as much of our own verbiage and identity as possible. Re-educate them! Call them what they are ‘STATISTS” .We are LGers.
Limited Government proponents. I like Limited Government. It tells our Political philosophy. JMO
Oh, puleez, enough of the trite and infantile jargon.
What is "conservatism" today?
Neo? Paleo? Who? Why?
We sheeple are drowning in self-made semantical quicksand.
Orwell and Goebels would be proud.
I would like to welcome the author here.
Ms. Murray, you wrote a good article.
Back again Charlie?
I noticed you here this morning.
Right on cue, at the end of the month.
Either you follow the lunar cycles and only come out at the waning of the moon; or you run out of meds at month end. I would tend to think it is the latter.
I was just re-reading "Liberal Fascism" and your question #1 kept popping into my brain to ask my "progressive" brother who fancies himself a political historian. Obviously the moniker is a Marxist one, in that the "progress" is towards their inevitable end-state: worldwide communal utopian society that they all believed would occur when the term entered the lexicon. A follow on question that I would have for those TRUE progressives that actually understand the inherent Marxism imbedded in their political views is: If the end-state is "natural" and "inevitable", then why would you have to force it?
Really enjoyed your post.
I have one issue with this otherwise admirable post. It has to do with the analogy:
"Do we condemn airlines as a whole because one plane crashes? Do we demonize the entire industry and stop flying?"
No, is the obvious answer to your question, but it contains a few more subtleties than what you are suggesting. I'll extend the metaphor to prove my point. If ONE airline, has an inherent safety flaw in it that the others do not, say one allows their pilots to drink or doesn't follow preventative maintenance suggestions, then the public will most likely choose not to frequent that airline and it SHOULD be condemned by all parties. As a parallel, if an ideology has an obvious logical flaw in it that leads to totalitarianism (fascism, communism, Islamicism) or any sort of "collective" thought, then the free-thinking individualist should condemn it in the same manner.
If not, then the individual's thoughts eventually gets suppressed in favor of "collective thought" and debate is no longer possible. And the plane inevitably crashes as the pilot is drunk and the icing inhibitor hasn't been added to the fuel.
The Balanced Budget Amendment shifts the balance of power to the president and the federal courts and destroys our Constitution: http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/why...
You need to write a column Great Job!
GOVERNMENT FLASH MOB OR REAL SHOOTING IN UTOYA, NORWAY !!? REAL TEARS OR TEAR GAS AND PURE HYPOCRISY !!? OSLO POLICE or CRIMINALS WHO WERE PREPARING FOR TERROR AGAINST NORWAY FOR ALMOST HALF DECADE(collecting proofs and photos) !!? No doubt about bombing in Oslo, but what about shooting in Utoya which was no different from the one in Arizona !!!? WILL THERE BE OBAMINATOR MORALES'S APOCALYPSE NOW OR TOTAL WAR AGAINST NEW WORLD ORDER(multiculturalism) !!? VISIT stateofterror.blogspot.com/ or stateofterror.wordpress.com/ STOLTENBERG = BREIVIK(90 minutes vs 30 and for government vehicles or police even 20 minutes the most) !!!
Agreed. It is cool to be a conservative, however, we have to remember we are dealing with child-like mentalities and beliefs on the other side of the conversation. This is the challenge to overcome.
"Nearly 50 million people are now on “food stamps.” Of course, the nomenclature is an anachronism, because modern therapeutic society long ago rejected the stigma of shuffling clumsy stamps at the check-out counter, and reduced the process of getting free food into flashing a government-issued plastic card no different in appearance from a bank ATM card. The calcified liberal technocracy talks as if each new person added to the program was faced with Dickensian starvation, even as the other five-sixths of Americans trade anecdotes about waiting in line behind a subsidized cart of food far superior to their own."
VDH @ http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272799/tra...
My compliments to the author.
I applaud your comments, not so much because I agree, but for the light they cast on your personal character — which looks to be very fine indeed. At least judging by this tiny bit of exposure. Also for the spirit of civility and benevolence toward humanity that they express.
That said, I fear that you've got it wrong. A rosy, likable shade of wrong, but wrong nonetheless.
I have become convinced after long experience and considerable study that what we call liberalism is not actually a political point of view reached by reason. In fact it is not merely a political point of view at all.
It is rather the political expression of a whole set of intellectual and moral failings, and character flaws. Do all liberals have all of those flaws and all in the same degree? Of course not. But they all have some of them in some degree. Even the nice likable ones, the apparently civilized and reasonable ones, the ones who you would not like to suspect of dark motives.
The fact is that we humans are all prone and vulnerable to sin and failure. This is not to say that conservatives don't sin and fail — every sort of person does. But liberalism represents a particular style or set of sins and failures that many many people hold in common. And it comes out and shows in their politics.
"Liberalism", or leftism if you prefer, is primarily a spiritual posture with intellectual and emotional consequences.
And considering "liberals" or leftists as a community so to speak — it is a community organized around shared sins and failures. Weird? Yes. Counter-intuitive? Yes. Unfortunate? Yes. Not something one wants to think? Yes. But true for all that. Don't believe me. Look for yourself.
Unfortunately for all concerned, a proclivity toward demonizing others, to seek scapegoats and pariahs is an important aspect of the liberal mindset. Not to say that it isn't a failing available to all of us, but rather that a high degree of this particular failing is a prominent and important part of what goes into making someone a liberal, and a prominent part of how they perceive the world around them. And it is encouraged, nourished and cultivated by the liberal community.
You do not hear liberals promoting the idea of giving their political competitors the benefit of the doubt, that conservatives are well meaning but mistaken in some particular although that is the customary conservative view of liberals.
"Oh those conservatives, they mean well but they don't understand how markets work." You don't hear such things and you're not going to. What you hear is accusation.
Now this is not deterministic. An inclination to accuse and demonize does not lead automatically to liberalism — especially not all by itself. But a propensity to blame will get one rapid acceptance and approval in liberal circles if directed at the "correct" targets. It garners rapid and substantial social advantages and opportunities. And a propensity to lurid demonization will get applause.
Damning communists say, might get you a hearing among conservatives and an agreement, and even some benefit of the doubt for a while. But that's as far as it goes. Lurid demonization, especially if habitual, will get you looked at funny.
One could go on. But I won't. I do recommend however, that you read Coulter's new book on the liberal mindset, and Jamie Glazov on leftist sympathies.
Perhaps you might want to adopt a Christian attitude toward liberals. You know, love the sinner hate the sin.
But make no mistake. We are talking sin and failure here.
And don't expect a fair hearing very often.
All that said, I wish you the best of luck. Really.
Yes the quintessential question. If progressivism is so "right" then why must it be forced on everyone? And if its forced on everyone how is that NOT forcing one view upon everyone else?
And before any proggies chime in here, free market is not "forced" upon everyone since it does not obligate others for it to exist. It is the free will association of people. Not allowing the gov to impose one narrow ideology on others is NOT force but the prevention or removal of force.
Better tighten your tinfoil hat, there, bub.
I really like this idea — keeping the conversation on the subject not the person — makes total sense. Thanks for the comment.
I absolutely LOVE RED EYE and must admit it is my secret goal to get on that show … I think it could really go head to head with John Stewart with some more coaching AND a little more screen time … absolutely love it.
I just finished Ann's book and must say it opened my eyes. I do agree DC is a weird sampling, but we write about what we know, right? Back home in NM the sampling is much different, but still full of democrats … it just depends on what your world view is … and i respect that so much. I think the bottom line is just to try to instigate change and thought and really, that's where my heart is.
Thanks for the compliments, JA … here's to hoping we can really make a difference. All I am doing is telling you all what's in my heart and on my mind — and promising I am committed to changing this world, one idea at a time. It's a tough job, but I am ready for it … Mr. Murray? Nah … the only ones I know of are my dad and my brothers
Gotta love the 3Bs … … I promise to erase all lawyer jokes from my stage banter while singing
… just kidding of course.
There is a lot to be said about simply being proud of who you are and not letting someone put you in a box. It's a hard thing to do in this political climate — but it is more important than ever. I hope you'll read some of my other articles — I am crossing my fingers they'll be posted here, but i have a few others on tea party tribune.com. Look for more!
I think this is great. My best friend in the entire world is a democrat. I love her dearly and we've agreed to not talk politics. But when we do, we definitely listen to each other with open minds and hearts and there is a mutual respect there.
I was talking to some friends last night and we were discussing what it would actually be like if we all did have the same views … and the first thing that jumped into my mind was BORING AS HECK … so I am thankful we all have different interests, beliefs and sentiments … but in contrasts to that, I seriously do wish some people had more common sense … bc really, that's what i think our beliefs boil down to sometimes.
THANK YOU! … let's make a difference … that's what it's about …
Thanks, Cowboy … and if BG publishes my next one, … based on your BG handle, you might like it! It's on cowboys
Thanks for the insight — I appreciate ALL viewpoints and learn from them. I appreciate it.
the 'realist' tack is a good idea. i've never used it directly like that, but i've had plenty of conversations with liberals that go something like:
Lib: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if people were more_______?"
Me: "I don't waste my time pondering what things would be like if people were different, any more than if the laws of physics were different. That's the best part about capitalism, it takes advantage of what people already do naturally, not what some nannyistic busy-bodies think they should be doing."
Lib: "Well you're just mean!"
Me: "No, I'm a realist, not a starry-eyed idealist."
"And may I ask……..Is there a Mr. Murray, Miz Murray?"
attaboy, JA- faint heart ne'er won fair maiden.
a great set of questions, cb750! are those of your devising, your personal compilation, or?
just taking say, 3, 4, & 5, for example… the simple answer which no 'progressive' will EVER give truthfully is that their world requires productive individuals to bear the load of the inevitable slackers & losers that naturally gravitate to their movement. in fact, one of liberalism's most basic tenets is the right to be a parasite on the 'greedy' successful of society, because it's, you know, 'fair'…
how many of us know a fellow conservative who has, or have personally experienced the following situation?
your liberal friend tells you they can no longer be friends with you because they've recently discovered your conservative political views and you tell them "But i've known you were a liberal from day one and that didn't stop me from being your friend, politely suffering thru your anti-Bush tirades, etc…"
Well, let's not get carried away here. Not every liberal hates conservatives because he (mistakenly) believes we're all cruel Nazis, racists and sub-humans who want to exterminate all minorities, poor people and adherents to any religion other than our own. Quite a few liberals genuinely hate us because we oppose the welfare state, believe in personal responsibility and support a strong America. Those are "labels" I'm not sure we should be so eager to dispel.
QUESTION: What counts as 'fanatic" and 'Extreme'? i have been called BOTH for wanting smaller government….wanting a balenced budget…wanting to drill ANWR (and now the gulf)…Wanting a soverignity of the STATES respected (Alabama State Courthouse ; Ten Commandments..anyone remember?)….Wanting SPENDING CUT….Wanting the scope of FEDERAL agencies CURTAILED…wanting to GET the bad guys responsible for 9-11.. to the Ron paul Weedbaggers, to identify for me the 'Legal Weed' plank in the Republican Platform…and finally to the followers of mitt romney show me the 'socialised medicine' plank in the GOP platform… so am I Fanatical and extreme for wanting THAT????
Don't back down, don't give up, never give a inch. Liberals cannot respond to logic, so prepare for ad-hominem attacks and monkey screeching, poo flinging.
Never give a inch.
Better reply- report to yer nearest psych ward for a massive infusion of yer meds, av.
I'll look 'em up right now!
And feel free to joke all you want about lawyers – I do, too!
(Actually, you really ought to hear the jokes lawyers tell about CLIENTS! I'm sorry, but I'm sworn to secrecy on this so I can't recite any here.)
Keep writing, Deanna. You have a genuine talent for it.
Mostly mine over the years. I was a progressive for my college to mid 30 years. These were the questions I would ask myself about progressivism in which the only answers I could come up with were morally bad answers and upon researching and studying various ideologies that view never changed and became more defined.
Hope u found my other pieces .. And I am wildly intrigued re the client jokes … But i totally get the secrecy thing. Sad tho .. Could sure use a few good laughs!
Can't think of a single thing that'll ever keep me from writing … Its in the blood ….
Ok, just for your eyes only ***NO ONE ELSE CAN LOOK AT THIS, IT'S A SECRET CLIENT JOKE!***
– The "Smart" Client —
A client fired his court-appointed lawyer and elected to defend himself at trial for shooting an endangered Spotted Owl. The judge — well known for his environmental sympathies — gravely announced that since the species is in danger of extinction, he would have to make an example out of the defendant. The client said he was very sorry for what he'd done, but that he was totally destitute and needed the bird to feed his hungry children. All he had to his name, he said with emotion, was a few shells of bird shot he had left in his shotgun.
The judge wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and told the defendant he would get off with a warning this time. The client beamed with triumph as he started out of the courtroom. Just then, the judge called out, "Just out of curiosity, what does a Spotted Owl taste like?"
The man turned around and said, "Your honor, it's hard to describe, but it's sort of a cross between the Bald Eagle, Whooping Crane and California Condor I shot last month."
Deanna
you're dead-on the money with this.
The real way to change people starts with change yourself. We can't convince them to become conservatives.. No amount of badgering will accomplish this – - in fact it'll have the opposite effect.
Surprising them with intelligent and conservative points at times when they're unexpected does wonders, as it forces folks to wonder how they came to the conclusions they hold.
I often play the "false flag" operation with liberals, and I find that as long as I am modest on it, they don't figure out for weeks.
I was just entertaining clients in Dallas, and they (all staunch lefties) were going on about the tea party crowd and how terrible they were. I shifted things to Obama and started praising his positions somewhat modestly, but throwing in a few teasers about how he needs to raise the taxes more and get this health care thing going. Pretty soon they were attacking Obama and complaining about his spineless positions.
The shocker came when the CEO of the company said how much he hopes Rick Perry runs for president, as he was just "f'n sick of this spineless moron" in the white house. That caused jaws to drop – a VERY liberal Muslim man attacking Obama and calling for a "right-wing" alternative…. Inwardly I laughed…..
I travel around the country a bit, and have been amazed at how liberals will turn on each other, because they simply cannot hold the positions they've embraced. I see it all the time – -just give them some rope and encourage them – they'll hang themselves.
BUT please give up on being 'liked'… seriously. It's not worth the hassle. You've already been painted into a corner. WHO you really are is irelevant – the lefties who have "outed" you have already decided you're a nut and a freak. and they're either going to hate you for it or view you as a 5 legged rabbit at the freak show.
If you wasted time on trying to 'fit in', you're going to get nowhere. You are an Andy Brieitbart, an Ann Coulter, a Rush Limbaugh.. You will never 'hang" with the "in-crowd", because you're the 5 legged freak now. But don't sweat it. you're not the one suffering from mental deficiencies.. You don't have to prostitute your values in order to be accepted. Just correct when necessary, and ask questions that make people think thru their own positions. you'll succeed far more than you can imagine.
ok … now that made me chuckle
Thanks for sharing … hopefully you didn't just break some major lawyer rule ….
Well, they won't come for my license for at least 3 weeks, so that will give me time to move my office next door. They'll never find me there!
Hey, by the way, I see that you're also a singer. Made any CD's?
Sometimes, i get a little leery of calling myself a realist because perception of a realist is someone who sees things as they are — but doesn't necessarily know how to fix them or is willing to fix them. Maybe I am wrong about this (could easily be) … check out my article I wrote on Idealism … which kinda discusses this a little bit. I think BG is running it in the next couple of days .. but if not, it's listed under my name on TeaPartyTribune.com … Deanna
IKR! But hey, he didn't respond … so …. Deanna
I am a singer. I haven't done anything major — but the band I am in is working on an album right now — I sing in and around the NoVa/DC area quite often. It's a lot of fun! Drop me a line and I'll send you a venue schedule … murraygal21@aim.com
I sure don't mind differing opinions — and do choose to think people like me — with open hearts, minds and good intentions followed by actions CAN INDEED MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I don't believe people are lost.
i find many people abandon the beliefs of their parents (Especially conservatively raised kids) once they leave home — but I also see many, many come back around later in life after they realize their roots and see the world differently. I also have to hope and pray this will continue to happen.
It is actually burdened on my heart to go out and make a difference and encourage others to do so. We can bitch and moan as much as we want about what's wrong with this world and the right and the left — but if we are not willing to do something about it — to actually stand up and let our voices be heard, we are no better than a person who complains constantly about politics but doesn't take the time to vote.
I read Coulter's book and absolutely loved it. i've also read many others (breitbart's new book as well) and they all encourage us to get out of our zones and move into the mainstream with our message. I am determined and dedicated to do that. And I am hoping you all are with me!
I will most definitely take that well-wished luck and use it to my fullest ability! Thank you and I hope you'll keep reading.
Deanna
Thank you for this insight. You're right — being liked isn't all that, anyway …. I prefer to let people know who I really am and then they can judge … take it or leave it …. Please keep reading!
Deanna
Make sure to check out my first post on BIG HOLLYWOOD! http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dmurray/2011/08...
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dmurray/2011/08...
The latest about Cowboys
My first post on Big Hollywood
Thank you Ms. Murray.
I enjoy what you write.
Please forgive me that I do not comment on your latest article. For whatever the reason, either John Nolte, or Andrew Breitbart have made my presence there persona non grata.
You must be logged in to post a comment.