...The main issue is that on the left, there are a good many people so intransigent that they cannot accept that those who hold contrary opinions on gay rights or abortion or any number of other moral issues have positions that are either well-reasoned, or seem that way to those who hold them.
...You don't win respect by saying, "Respectfully, you're wrong." You win respect by saying, "We will work together to reduce the number of abortions in this country, and we will fight to make sure that those who are in troubled situations will have the support to take care of their children." Or, "We will work together to ensure that all people who are committed to each other have the right to visit each other in the hospital, and we will work to make it easier for those whose relationships are foundering to get marriage counseling."
Neither of those things counsel changing policy--just showing the other side that you actually care what they think. Unless the left can do that, there is no way that they will go anywhere with the moral conservatives.
...You don't win respect by saying, "Respectfully, you're wrong." You win respect by saying, "We will work together to reduce the number of abortions in this country, and we will fight to make sure that those who are in troubled situations will have the support to take care of their children." Or, "We will work together to ensure that all people who are committed to each other have the right to visit each other in the hospital, and we will work to make it easier for those whose relationships are foundering to get marriage counseling."
Neither of those things counsel changing policy--just showing the other side that you actually care what they think. Unless the left can do that, there is no way that they will go anywhere with the moral conservatives.
Reader rebuttal:
The left doesn't need to do anything with moral conservatives.
What the left needs to do is stop standing in the way of the bigoted sexist racists who run the GOP. Let them enact their platform. No abortions, no gay marriage, no social welfare programs. No New Deal.
The reason the rural voters - who thrive on all kinds of New Deal social welfare - continually vote GOP is because they pay NO PENALTY for doing so. The Democrats are always there to ensure the New Deal survives. It's easy to be a homophobe if you don't pay a price for it.
...What will happen is this: people will flock to vote Democratic in droves. FDR's New Deal was possible because Depession era people knew what it meant to be cold, jobless and hungry. Today's rural poor know none of that. If the nation actually SAW what it was like to have no social welfare, no abortion rights, no desegregation, they would jettison the GOP in a heartbeat.
What the left needs to do is stop standing in the way of the bigoted sexist racists who run the GOP. Let them enact their platform. No abortions, no gay marriage, no social welfare programs. No New Deal.
The reason the rural voters - who thrive on all kinds of New Deal social welfare - continually vote GOP is because they pay NO PENALTY for doing so. The Democrats are always there to ensure the New Deal survives. It's easy to be a homophobe if you don't pay a price for it.
...What will happen is this: people will flock to vote Democratic in droves. FDR's New Deal was possible because Depession era people knew what it meant to be cold, jobless and hungry. Today's rural poor know none of that. If the nation actually SAW what it was like to have no social welfare, no abortion rights, no desegregation, they would jettison the GOP in a heartbeat.
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