![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Guest-column1.jpg\" "\\"Guest")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
This is a letter to rational conservatives. I know you\u2019re out there.<\/p>\n
What is the far right so afraid of? (I can only assume fear is the driving force in the recent actions of many. Something stronger than stupidity causes someone to shout \u201cnigger\u201d or \u201cfaggot,\u201d hurl a brick through a window, leave death threats for a public servant and their family.) I sometimes trust the Internet. So I Googled that question…and got over 27 million hits!<\/p>\n
I know lots of Republicans. I have friends who are Republican. I like a lot of Republicans. But my second question: Why do you stand silent while others include you as being like-minded?<\/p>\n
Surely you don\u2019t all think\u00a0Rush Limbaugh <\/a>is right? But you let him, and others like him, spew venom and lie and distort statistics.\u00a0David Frum<\/a>, conservative journalist and former Reagan speech writer, said recently<\/a>, \u201c(Republicans) followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n The two\/multi party system is great. It works and makes us all think \u2013 until we start blindly accepting what our parties tell us to think. Frum also wrote about FOX and rabid talk radio whipping the conservative voting base into a frenzy \u2013 a rabid, angry mob. A mob led to believe the health care supporters wanted to murder their grandmothers.<\/p>\n Just because something is reported ad naseum doesn\u2019t make it true. Remember the story from your childhood, \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes?\u201d<\/p>\n I teach the history of social policy at the college level. My students can tell you that policy (law) is based on values. And if one truly examines his or her values, they are fairly simple to identify. Do you value education? Then you support schools, libraries and a culture of learning. Do you value the earth? Then you support legislation that represents good stewardship of nature. Do you value equality? Then you support legislation that provides for you… and your neighbor.<\/p>\n But values are across the board. A \u2018selective value\u2019 would hold true for some, but not others \u2013 in some situations, but not all. A \u2018selective value\u2019 is not a value. I think that\u2019s what we call a prejudice, hypocrisy and double-speak.<\/p>\n We have people among us who aren\u2019t content with their constitutional right to bear arms. They want to carry their weapons everywhere. Just what we need – angry, frenzied gun-toters at the fair, at the courthouse, at the movie theatre. Where has responsible, rational thought gone?<\/p>\n If you continue to give credence to the loudest and most irate, the possibility of compromise and mutual forbearance will be gone. Conservatives, is this really the group of people you want to define what you stand for? I don\u2019t think so \u2013 or at least I hope not, for the sake of all of us.<\/p>\n