lib·er·al ˈlib(ə)rəl/ adjective open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values
Truth be told, I’ve never really respected the opinions of anyone at all religious, let alone fundamentalist. And my traditional values have always included Ralph Waldo Emerson’s distinction between freedom and license. (As I see it, according to Emerson’s distinction, I should have the freedom to get high on whatever odd substance I chose and have sex with my dog…assuming, of course, that he or she is a consenting adult…in the privacy of my own home. But the minute I walk out my front door and inadvertently kick a leaf into my neighbor’s yard, who will then have to remove it or endure its potentially unwelcome presence on his or her property, I have committed an act of license for which I should be held accountable.)
These and other of my opinions and traditional values justify referring to me as a liberal, part of the “coastal elite” who pompously presumed…when an elegant, intelligent black man was elected president to serve for two terms…that “fly-over” America was finally beginning to “grow up.” (“Grow up” meaning, of course, see things from my point of view.) Part of the coastal elite that never actually took anything rural America had to say all that seriously anyway. (It all seemed so preposterously irrational after all.) Part of the coastal elite that was totally floored when what I originally took as what must be some kind of joke, Donald Trump running for president, actually resulted in his being elected.
So I understand my fellow liberals’ horror all too well, as we struggle to come to grips with Trump’s election. I share the pain of feeling helpless and lost and powerless as we witness our country on the brink of being taken over by what appears to us to be total illogic.
But what does rural America feel whenever a Democrat is elected?
The link below resonates with many coastal elite, myself included. But does it, like all the liberals with which it resonates, fail to see beyond its own myopic ways of thinking enough to realize it has very successfully answered the “unanswerable” question it poses after all? The answer is accepting that rural America has a right to arrive at conclusions without utilizing the methods coastal America uses.
Now that the bloodbath that was the election campaign is over, both Trump and Pence are promising to represent and care for all Americans. But are we, who call ourselves liberal, open to new behavior or opinions, willing to discard any of our traditional values, and equally prepared to accept all Americans, including those that voted for Trump?
http://forsetti.tumblr.com/post/153181757500/on-rural-america-understanding-isnt-the-problem
