At the Huffington Post, Candace Gingrich wrote an open letter to big brother Newt.
After reading it, I think Thanksgiving dinner may be a little tense at the Gingriches this year:
I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, "There you go, again."
She goes on to write:
The truth is that you're living in a world that no longer exists. I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as -- and we embrace what it can be. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past.
For me, this new vision of America was one of the most gratifying things about this election. Obama frequently said, "They are trying to make a big election about small things." Indeed the GOP and the proto-Newts were trying as hard as they could. But American wasn't buying their distractions this time around.
The challenges facing our country and the world were too daunting and this election was too important to be decided on the kind of socially devisive issues the OP (it's just the Old Party now. Nothing grand about it.) has depended on for the last 30 years.
Two Steps Forward. One Step Back
The passage of California's Prop 8 was one of the few dark spots on the Nov. 4th elections. Maybe it was too much to hope for a clean sweep, but to loose on 8 was particularly galling.
Prop 8 was a huge blow to marriage equality and to all lovers of civil liberty. OTOH, the reaction in California and across the country since Nov. 4th has been amazing. This reaction proves this is only a temporary set back in an inevitable march forward.
On cable, writer Dan Savage has been doing yoeman's duty
defending the hope that these basic rights must one day apply to all people, regardless of race, religion or sexuality.
Progress: The True American Tradition
If there is anything unique about Western Civilization or any reason to believe in American Exceptionalism it is this: We do make progress. Since the Renaissance we have broken more barriers, smashed more stereotypes and over come more prejudices than any other culture in our history.
Regardless of the inevitable flaws our founders carried, regardless of the sins they inherited from past culture and regardless of the price and pain it has cost, America has made incredible advances in personal freedom and dignity. We are a nation built on philosophy, not history. We have proven that the ideals of liberty and personal dignity are powerful and they demand we apply them to all people, no matter where we would prefer to draw the lines.
Obama wrote "In no other country on Earth is my story even possible." We should be proud of this. For too long, we have let conservative demagogues claim that pride in America and pride in our ideas was their prerogative.
We must take that back, because it does not belong to them.
Take this hill. Then take the next one.
It may take another election or another decade to win the struggle over gay marriage. And when we do, there will be another cause waiting to take up. But we will win.
It's what we do.