There goes the neighborhood

In the two days since the mid-term elections, Republicans have been inundated with “there goes the neighborhood” messages, but much less civilly expressed.  I’ve had to endure them from friends on FaceBook, e-mail, forums, blogs and in person. Most center around statements that we’re returning to the dark ages and that back alley abortions are just around the corner. Two posts suggested that it’s not Wisconsin but Governor elect Scott Walkers wife who should be open for business. Others stated that the lunatics are taking over the asylum, America is done for, that the homophobic, racist, extremist, ignorant, redneck, religious nuts have seized control … you get the gist.

How did we come to this? How have we gotten to the point where personal attack and vitriolic generalizations have replaced reasoned discourse?

Let me say before I go any further that Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats. I have no illusions that only liberals are capable of being mean spirited.  I also don’t give a damn who started it, the fact that it’s happening is where my concern lies.

Respectful debate is out there. It just doesn’t get press coverage. Democrats protesting at the Republican convention and Republicans hanging Obama effigies at Tea Party rallies are much more dramatic than two groups sitting down to hash out a compromise. The sad thing is that if bad behavior is all you see or hear about, it’s human nature to think that that is the way a person should act.

The first thing that happened after the election was each side declaring that if gridlock happened the other side will be to blame. I propose a shift in attitude. Let’s try declaring that if compromise is reached, it’s our side that will be responsible. That declaration automatically assumes consensus instead of contention. What’s to lose?

Hello and welcome

Contrary to what many people think, not all conservatives are racist homophobes who clean their guns while having the Bible read aloud by one of their militia buddies. The vast majority are reasonable folks. We believe that anyone that wants to get married should be able to, that those that genuinely need help should get it, that government is too big ,too wasteful, and too out of touch, and that there’s plenty of room for everybody and their opinions.

We used to be called the Silent Majority and silent we still are but for different reasons. If we express ourselves at work, we could jeopardize our jobs or lose customers. If we express what we think at parties we run the risk of losing friends. If we express ourselves at a public forum we will be automatically branded as reactionary, extremist, racist, homophobic, fundamentalist, redneck, dim-witted, Nazi … You get the picture.  The best we can hope for if we say what we genuinely believe is that we will be dismissed as a nut case. We have placed ourselves under a voluntary gag order. I have to put up with op-ed pieces and Facebook posts on a daily basis that attack me and my beliefs but I dare not respond.

Given choice, I would gladly put my name and picture on this blog (hopefully I can in the not too distant future) but given the intolerance of conservatism that dominates discourse these days, I must, for the time being, remain anonymous. That doesn’t mean that I must remain silent.

Conservatives like me run into other dilemmas that plague us daily. We do not suffer fools easily. We chafe at hypocrisy. Importantly, we don’t care which party offends.   We wish Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck would shut up right along with Jon Stewart and Bill Maher.  We think the extreme religious left is just as whacked out as the extreme religious right.

This isn’t to say that we’re middle-of-the-roaders or fence-sitters. Our conservative values and beliefs are intact and fully operational.  We just don’t ascribe to the absolutes with which so many non-conservatives would saddle us. 

Which brings me to this blog. When Rush Limbaugh first started out (before he went off the deep end) his popularity soared because he said what the majority of conservatives wanted say but couldn’t. His comments rang with forethought and common sense. Then he discovered that there was more market share in expressing extremist views because liberals would tune in to get fodder for their right-wing extremist diatribes, ”See, this is what conservatives think!”

Only it’s not. Conservatives are laughing at Limbaugh as well, not because he’s a right-wing wacko but because liberals actually believe what he’s saying.  It’s a bittersweet joke and liberals don’t get the punch line. Unfortunately the punch line is delivered at the expense of those of us, most of us, who carry a more moderate view of what it means to be conservative.

My intent is to pick up where Limbaugh started. There is no voice for the average conservative in the media. The media has no market for it. Conservatives with reasonable views don’t sell ads on the five o’clock news. We have been painted by Liberals and the media as the “ party of no” and reactionary nut jobs waving flags at pro-life rallies. Hopefully one small voice in the wilderness can help change that. Welcome to The Unknown Conservative.