Being married to Candace means that I am immersed in the milieu of musicians and songwriters, talented, artistic people, here in Nashville and environs, and they are for the most part card-carrying members of the now very depressed, Bush-despising left. In between lovely music, bitter jokes are shared, like What’s the difference between Iraq and Vietnam? Bush figured out a way to get out of Vietnam. And so on. Somebody sings Country Joe’s “Fixin’ To Die Rag”, substituting Iran for Vietnam. There is no intention to be offensive to anybody present, because it never occurs to anyone that there could possibly be somebody in the room who does not share these sentiments. After all, we are all intelligent, nice people, not like those ignorant bigots on the other side.
I suppose it is cowardly, but I keep a low profile, because I have found that people get very upset when they find out that I support the war and George Bush. My policy is, don’t ask, don’t tell. If they ever were to ask, I would tell, but they never do. And the reason they never do is because they already know that everyone in the room agrees with them 100% about everything. So they don’t have to ask. The irony is that these people pride themselves, and I mean pride themselves, on being really smart, and open-minded, whereas they appear to me, to be more close-minded than many of the people they despise. Fortunately that mindset has cost them the election and will continue to cost them elections by ever greater margins in the future.
I like hanging with people who think about things, and therefore have diverse opinions, and who actually enjoy discussing them, and even, dare I say it, arguing about them, and even, mirabile dictu, changing their minds. Strangely enough, such people are now, regardless of their opinions about anything in particular, called “conservatives”. Has it always been thus? I don’t think so. I think there was a time, long, long ago, when “liberals” were capable of thought. I don’t really understand what it was that made them decide to give it up, something about Vietnam, but whatever it was, I think it was a mistake. I like the two party system. I hate to see it disappear. I’m looking forward to voting for a Democrat again some day, but I just don’t know when or if I’ll ever get the chance. In the meantime, I enjoy the company of these fine people when the bitter politics stops and the music begins.