Some of my best friends, the people I really like, the people I know, are Republicans.
Nah, I’m just being a smart-ass, some of the people I love are Republicans, but we sure do disagree on a lot of things. I’m pretty outspoken too, so I learn the political leanings of most people I meet quickly.
I grew up in a union household where politics were talked about everyday, and argued about often at parties fueled by alcohol. No friendships were lost and no one was disowned over their political beliefs.
Issues, more than personalities were discussed, and ideas and opinions flew fast and furious. For the most part, my family were members of the Democratic Party. My mother died when I was young and my dad married a woman who was a Republican, as was her family.
Then there was me, the Socialist of the bunch. I was then, and am now, an Atheist Socialist who doesn’t easily fit in this country I am a citizen of, this country I am actively involved in politically. Yet, somehow, I have managed to find a way to fit in.
Part of how I have come to find my place here in the United States, Parker Palmer explains in his book, “Healing the Heart of Democracy — the Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit".
When we reduce the citizen role to a narrow band of partisan political activities that many people do not find engaging or even possible — such as joining and contributing to a political party, going door-to-door for a candidate, or participating in rallies — our chances of achieving full citizenship are diminished. Most of us will be citizens primarily in the everyday venues of family, work, and local community. my bolding
In a more expansive and inclusive definition of citizenship, Parker Palmer explains:
Citizenship is a way of being in the world rooted in the knowledge that I am a member of a vast community of human and nonhuman beings that I depend on for essentials I could never provide for myself.
The crux of the biscuit, the apostrophe, in my point about embracing Republicans (or Democrats as the case may be), is summed up by Parker Palmer like this:
Some of what we must learn if democracy is to flourish comes only from “crossing over” into lives unlike our own, not fleeing from them in fear but entering into them in trust that an experience of “otherness” can help our closed hearts break open.
He doesn’t say this is easy either! He gets pissed off like anyone else but says:
Still, no matter how jaw-dropping or morally offensive I find some people’s convictions, I must learn to speak up in the civic community without denying my opponents their humanity and further poisoning the political ecosystem on which democracy depends.
That is what I’m talking about when I advocate for embracing Republicans. To cross-over, and in a civil manner, engage with people of all backgrounds, on issues that affect us all. Tends to be a pretty unpopular opinion in many places, but I hope that’s because the idea is not fully understood.
Neither I, or Parker Palmer are saying to accept anyone’s racist, homophobic, or other repugnant beliefs. I know that at least I am only saying, I need to accept that some people hold beliefs that are very alien to mine and the people with these beliefs still need to be treated with civility. That’s how we learn and grow. That’s how change comes about.
Daily Kos has certainly embraced Republicans, the founder of this site is a former Republican. The Democratic Party has certainly embraced Republicans. Who doesn’t like Elizabeth Warren? She is a former Republican.
In the 2016 Presidential election 65,844,969 people voted for the Democratic candidate who was once a Republican. She may not have won the Presidency but she won the popular vote by 3 million. Maybe embracing Republicans isn’t such an outlandish idea after all?
Do I think this idea can be taken too far? You bet I do!
I would say that when the Democratic Committee of Virginia Beach elects a Republican as their Chair, that’s a few steps too far. It’s one thing to be a former Republican, as in to have made a slow and steady conversion.
It’s quite another to have been a lifelong Republican and in an instant, decide you are indeed a Democrat, when you haven’t even voted for a Democrat yet. You don’t jump into the party as the Chair of a Committee. You need to learn a bit about the party first.
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Daily Kos really got behind a guy claiming to be, oh, I don’t know, his claims changed so often, but his first claim was of being a Blue Dog which morphed and morphed into a being a Progressive.
He admits his political creds include: campaigning for Evan McMullin’s campaign in 2016, as well as voting in the Republican primary rather than vote for Sanders or Clinton. Now, people do mess about in local Republican primaries (usually to no avail), but NO progressive would have done that in the historic 2016 Democratic primary.
In his own words, "he decided to run as a Democrat because his opponent was a Republican”. Yet, this site raised $10,000 for his campaign! WTF?!
I am all for meeting American voters where they are, in their work, family, and community; finding common ground with them to work for the good of all. What I’m not quite ready to do is put the newly “reborn republicans turned democrats” into positions of power or authority until they’ve put a bit of skin in the game
I want to know that they’ve truly embraced the platform of the Democratic Party; a living wage, education, equal pay, health care for all, civil rights, and especially the right for everyone to vote. It’s not enough that they've tweeted it or printed it on a website or flyer. I want to see them walk the talk. I want to take a close up look to make sure that poncho they’re wearing is a real poncho and not a Sears poncho.