Thank you, Alison. Well said.
The quick rash of posts following mine managed to prove my point quickly and aptly.
No one here knows me, and thereby has no business assuming anything about me. Yet, because I say I'm a Christian and a Republican, already I've been:
--labeled a "Biblethumper"
--automatically assumed as a Bush voter
--told to "post articles" to support my position, as if all of us aren't smart enough to do it ourselves
--again, without KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT ME, talk about discrimination, hating gays, and having no regard for the less fortunate while I roll in piles of money
--and, incredibly, someone actually said it makes you feel better to "bash and demean" those you are against.
Since liberal Democrats are all about reaching across the "divide," how about getting to know me or people like me?
POLITICS: People who voted for John McCain in the primaries. People who believe (like most Republicans, and like our platform says) that the Federal government has no business in the private lives (or wallets) of individuals one way or the other. People who believe that churches, synagogues and mosques should have the same Federal support in helping the poor and needy (our God-given responsibility) that organizations like Planned Parenthood do.
RELIGION: People who understand and live by Jesus' teaching, and ONLY Jesus' teaching, not man-made doctrine or denominations. People who grew up in the VERY real intolerance of the Rural South and have come to reject much of their upbringing. People like my parents, who I've seen cry over their ballot because they can't decide which is more important: the life of an unborn child or the fundamental right of a woman to govern her own body.
Get to know me. There are a lot of us out here in "Jesusland" (and yes, that's the most hateful, sarcastic, offensive signature I've seen here at The Ledge... less for the words than for the idea behind them).