Sometimes I try to image what it would be like to have liberal parents. I envy the old man for his folks. They are not Republican and don't hate anyone. How nice would that be, to have like-minded parents, to sit down together with a newspaper and shake our heads at the same Republican bullshit. A long time ago, my dad and I were listening to his Bob Dylan records. He stopped himself from singing along to every word in order to ask me how it is I turned out so liberal. (Pronounced librl). I'm still not sure how to answer that question. How about: I have empathy. How about: I don't like bombing innocent countries. How about: I like the environment. How about: I'm not proud to be ignorant. How about... you get the point.
What's difficult is the father-daughter tie-in of it all, that becoming an adult meant, for me and other liberal children of Fanatics (read: right-wingers), having to tell my father that all of his stupid ideas are wrong. When we were little, my sister and I told our friends that our father was Superman because he has black hair and is tall. The problem is that we weren't that far off: fighting violence with violence, everything only happens in America, and Metropolis looks so suburban in the latest installment. Last night my dad said that the health care system was fine and that we shouldn't have a new health care system because it might pay for abortions. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry.
Is life like this for you as well? You should get Eric Alterman's book, Why We're Liberal. It's a good source of information in situations like these. Talking to people who have been brainwashed by the Republican media is quite difficult and it's nice to have a resource. Go ahead, make yourself feel briefly proud. You earned it. You won't get anywhere, of course. Republicans tend to not believe irrefutable evidence that disagrees with them (read: off-shore drilling, evolution, abstinence-only programs). If you ever need someone to cry with, just give me a holler.
