Like many, many others in these polarized times, I've had more than my fill of highly unpleasant political discussions with my family. It got to the point between my mother and I after the 2000 election that we stopped speaking for months, even though we live less than an hour apart. Though that period is over, we've never spoken about politics since then, an unspoken and uncomfortable unofficial agreement.
But I'll give the pro-war protesters one thing: their behavior is so outlandish, so beyond the pale, that they are helping my mother and I find common ground to talk again about politics.
Years ago, what frustrated me about my mother was that she simply wasn't listening. I would explain to her how the math in Bush's tax policies didn't add up, for example. She would basically ignore the point and forward me an article from some freeper website about Al Gore being a traitor for negotiating with the Russians over something.
I would fall for the trap, do some research, and explain to her that, no, actually that sort of negotiation is routine, here's what the treaty was really about, some historical precedent, etc. She would ignore my reply and forward me another article that she thought I should really read about how Clinton sold all of our nuclear secrets to China in return for campaign contributions.
Basically, she was like a forerunner of InstaPundit, and I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. My frustration eventually boiled over, and she got offended that I was offended, and so on and so on. So many of you have been a part of the "political becoming the personal" among family and friends, the legacy of our "uniter not a divider" president, that I'm sure I don't need to go further. Like so many Republicans around here, I still see that my mom has a signed picture of George and Laura on the fridge (last I checked, anyway), so I figure she is still in thrall to the whole cult of personality thing and so there's nothing to talk about.
I wrote a diary last night about our family's trip to Camp Casey to see the big rally on Saturday. Part of what made our trip possible was that my mom had offered to babysit for our 2-year-old so we could take the three older kids. She knew where we were going and was very open-minded about the whole thing.
So today, my mom called me to talk about it, and I told her I would send her the story. As we spoke on the phone, I told her about the striking difference in the behavior between the pro- and anti-war demonstrators, particularly the offensive signs ("Bitch in the Ditch", "Traitorous Appeasers", "Terrorist Lovers", that sort of thing) and slogans being yelled in our direction while we diligently kept up a practice of non-confrontation at the urging of the Peace House. I told her about the fight between the wingnuts over the "say no to war" sign, and she thought that was pretty funny.
She agreed that you shouldn't feel fear in America when you speak your mind. She resented the way Cindy has been portrayed by the media. She was offended by the behavior of the pro-Bush supporters. I think she is a bellweather, the kind of person who has supported Bush because of his image, because she has bought the "liberal media" myth, because about all she is exposed to down here (in Texas) is wingnut radio and the local Bush-supporting media.
Now, though, she is starting to see some cracks in the armor of the Bush myth. My hope is that maybe now she'll get some exposure to the real liberal media, like the local Air America affiliate and maybe some liberal blogs. Maybe at long last she'll realize the kind of people she's thrown in with, and maybe we'll be able to have a nice discussion about America again. Maybe she's asking about my trip because she's looking for someone to talk to about politics again, someone who isn't a dittohead.
My Mom and I were always close until that horrible year of 2000, and the thought of healing that wound is something wonderful. I feel like Red at the end of "The Shawshank Redemption":
"I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
Maybe Bush will unite all of us after all, just not in the way he expected.