Ships Passing in the Night

Most of the protesting that has been done over the years since the 60s has been done by the Left. (The one exception to that that I can think of is the Pro-Life movement.) But recently, in 'town hall' meetings with congressmen and senators, it's been the Right that has been on the barricades, carrying their placards, interrupting speakers, and in general, trying to disrupt the political process. The first thing I want to say is that if it didn't bother you when the Left was doing it, one probably shouldn't be too outraged about it now. Just take it in stride, realizing that it represents a small percentage of the American people.

But why is this happening now? Because the Right is adamantly opposed to this Administration and what it is trying to accomplish. They don't like or trust Barack Obama, first of all. And that is putting it mildly. My relatives who are hard Right DESPISE Obama. They hate the fact that he is a liberal, hasn't served in the military, has a Kenyan father, has a Muslim background, and has big ears. They don't really listen to what he says, they don't really care about his policies. (Nor did they in the campaign last fall, when they were calling him a 'socialist' and a 'Muslim'.) What they do listen to is what people like Rush Limbaugh and the various blowhards on Fox News say about Obama's policies, and take it as gospel. They are ready to believe the worst and put the most radical Right spin on everything.

So they have worked themselves up into hysteria, believing that Obama represents a dramatic threat to the American Way of Life, and by God, they're not going to just take it lying down! And I have to say, if Obama did represent a threat to America, was truly some kind of tyrant, then I would join their ranks or at least would applaud them.

But of course he doesn't. It is ludicrous to think that this most thoughtful, centrist, articulate, calm, compassionate president represents a threat to America. His attempt to reform our health care system is a thoughtful, centrist, reasonable effort to come to grips with what has become a serious threat to our country. It is our current health care system that is the threat to our future, not Obama.

I find it hard to understand where these people are coming from. And they return the favor. We are ships passing in the night. Let us hope that they keep their guns in their holsters and in their closets.