Guest Blog: Open Letter to Rational Conservatives

This is a guest blog by Dawn Provencher of La Luz, New Mexico, who chairs the Democratic Party of Otero County. (It is originally from DFNM.)

This is a letter to rational conservatives. I know you're out there.

What is the far right so afraid of? (I can only assume fear is the driving force in the recent actions of many. Something stronger than stupidity causes someone to shout 'nigger' or 'faggot' – hurl a brick through a window – leave death threats to a public servant and their family.) I sometimes trust the internet. So I Googled that question ... and got over 27 million hits!

I know lots of Republicans. I have friends who are Republican. I like a lot of Republicans. But my second question, why do you stand silent while others include you as being like-minded? Surely you don't all think Rush Limbaugh is right? But you let him, and others like him, spew venom and lie and distort statistics. David Frum, conservative journalist and former Reagan speech writer, said recently “(Republicans) followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.”

The two/multi party system is great. It works and makes us all think – until we start blindly accepting what our parties tell us to think. Frum also wrote about Fox and rabid talk radio whipping the conservative voting base into a frenzy – a rabid, angry mob. A mob led to believe the health care supporters wanted to murder their grandmothers. Just because something is reported ad naseum doesn't make it true. Remember the story from your childhood, “The Emperor's New Clothes”?

I teach the history of social policy at the college level. My students can tell you that policy (law) is based on values. And if one truly examines his or her values, they are fairly simple to identify. Do you value education? Then you support schools, libraries, and a culture of learning. Do you value the earth? Then you support legislation which represents good stewardship of nature. Do you value equality? Then you support legislation which provides for you ... and your neighbor. But values are across the board – a 'selective value' would hold true for some, but not others – in some situations, but not all. A 'selective value' is not a value. I think that's what we call a prejudice, hypocrisy, and double-speak.

We have people among us who aren't content with their Constitutional right to bear arms. They want to carry their weapons everywhere. Just what we need - angry, frenzied gun-toters at the fair, at the courthouse, at the movie theatre. Where has responsible, rational thought gone?

If you continue to give credence to the loudest and most irate, the possibility of compromise and mutual forbearance will be gone. Conservatives, is this really the group of people you want to define what you stand for? I don't think so – or at least I hope not, for the sake of all of us.