Typical liberal

Last week I had one of Trump’s fine conservative followers refer to me as a “typical liberal” because I thought I was “smart”. He went on to conclude that the reason “my” party lost and continues to lose is because us liberals think we are all high and mighty and greater than though. Now, I find this very interesting because “all high and mighty and greater than though” is exactly the way I describe Evangelical Christians too. So who is right?

The perception that liberals think they are smarter than conservatives is a very old stereotype but one I am happy to embrace particularly in this era of Trumpism. What I personally take from this characterization is that liberals can think for themselves. They don’t need an authoritative bully telling them what is good and what is bad, who is right and who is wrong. And liberals are altruistic, sorry big word, we are unselfish. Our principle concerns and practices deal with the welfare of others and this universe. I liken it to being able to see beyond our noses.

Maybe it simply takes more brain cells to see the big picture. I don’t know. Maybe you have to be smarter to understand that raping the earth for coal to burn, and filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide are bad things for this planet. Maybe you just have to be more perceptive to realize that despite what the Declaration of Independence states, all men are not created equal. Some people need a little help in leveling the playing field. You understand that opportunities available to one are not necessarily available to all for reasons as simple as the color of their skin, their last name or their sexuality.

I think this liberal “smart” thing is the reason why Fox News is so popular. I don’t need Rachel Maddow or Anderson Cooper to tell me what is good or bad, what is right or wrong. I can read, I can think, I can see and most importantly I can perceive. I don’t need Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson to feed me information, which is simply what they do. The conservatives will contend that all media, with the exception of Fox News, is biased. I guess, like anything, that observation depends on the color of the glasses you are looking through.

Fox’s motto used to be Fair and Balanced which in itself is hilarious, now they refer to themselves as Most Watched, Most Trusted. I get why they are most watched, how taxing is it to sit in your La-Z-Boy recliner and be spoon feed shit? And most trusted? When your President is telling you to trust no one but him. That the “Deep State” is out to get all of us. That America is crumbling and only he can save us while promoting: “@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.” who are you going to trust?

Conservatives and Republicans want the world to believe that Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are not only the face but the voice of the liberal cause in America. Their not or at least not for me. They are simply convenient villains for Trump, his base and Fox News. The faces that I see and the voices I hear are my mothers, my daughters, my dad’s, my wife’s, my son in-law, one of my brother in-laws, my minister, the social worker at the homeless shelter, the guy that runs the soup kitchen, my next door neighbor, my friends, Ms. Nan, Ms. Suze, Larry Paul Brown, Scottie, Larry…….

We need to continue to speak-up and speak-out over the volume of Fox News, over the rants and raves of “our” adolescent President, over the narrow-minded and slow-witted people who seem to envy our ability to think and reason without any help or prodding. There is a reason Neanderthals became extinct 40,000 years ago. It has to do with adaptability, reasoning, and evolving. Maybe that is the real divide between liberals and conservatives. It’s all about evolution, the ability to move forward and look beyond our white, Evangelical noses.