I haven't ever posted before, but here goes. The title of this diary sort of clues you in to the fact that I really don't know where to begin this thing.
I was raised in an extremely strict, conservative, roman catholic, anti-abortion crusading family. I'm in my middle age now and I'm happy that my parents, in thier mid to upper 80's are still with us, but I still can not make sense of how thier minds work. I have felt confused by them since a very early age. They are passionate in thier beliefs and so am I. I just happen to be "on the other side" in all things except maybe that we all enjoy the fall foliage.
This inability to understand, or for the most part, even speak with my parents makes me dwell on the divide between liberals and conservatives.
I constantly find myself asking "How can they possibly think like that?"; "How can they possibly think that Sarah Palin is qualified to drive an automobile let alone run the most powerful nation on the face of the planet?"; "How can reasonably intelligent people possibly have such completely opposed views?"; "How can the people who gave me my fundamental values draw such opposite conclusions?"; If I can't come to a comfortable agreement with my own family, how do we heal the rift in our nation or between "us" and "them"? You can replace "them" with the enemy of your own choosing and god only knows who "us" is.
These questions obsess and haunt me. It is important to me on a very personal level and I extrapolate that out to the national level and the international level. How can roughly a third of the country be "dead enders" of the religious right? I honestly feel that the religious right has more in common with the the Taliban and the other Muslim fundamentalists that they despise than they have in common with me. They are stuck in the Middle Ages, stuck in the Crusades.
My wife and I, and all us crazy liberal Vermonters are ecstatic about Obama's victory. We have hope again. Even though the country and the world is a mess right now, we feel good about our country and are excited about the future. This election has given us hope. I just wish i could share that sense of joy and excitement with the people who brought me into this world, took care of me and set me on my way.