Letter To a Blue Friend (Free Republic Thread Cited)

The American Spectator ^ | 12/10/04 | Lawrence Henry

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Dear Blues Brother:

I suppose I've suffered less political ostracism than most. On a professional level, I don't flash a very big light, and I write about politics only about half the time. And I'm too old to care.

But being old makes me care a great deal about personal animus. You can point to the big public melters-down, like Maureen Dowd, but they don't interest me much. What matters are stories like the ones on this Free Republic thread , "Lost an Old Friend Today. Politics and the Personal." Thanksgiving has just passed, Christmas is coming up, and I sure don't go into any political diatribes on our family's Christmas card letter. Do you?

We have so many good things to remember and to talk about. We've been talking for decades. Why stop now?

Like…Who can tell the biggest laugher about his misspent youth? Was it you or me who told about having to go into the IRS and tell them that the years 1977-1979 were lost? No, not just the tax records or the pay stubs. The entire years. Maybe a wife or two in there, who knew?

"Yes, sir, I know. I must have eaten and slept. I must have driven around in something. Maybe I paid rent somewhere. People tell me I was in Los Angeles. What? Yes, of course, get your supervisor. I'll wait."

Or was it you or me who used to say he always kind of dug blackouts? "You know, man, teleportation. Like, 'Wow, I'm on a highway in the middle of the desert. I wonder where I'm going. Wait, there's a sign. Las Vegas? Kewl.'"

Which of us was it who had played the gig with the old-time jazz trumpeter, the reformed junky who'd just had all his teeth pulled, and was playing on his new dentures for the first time? And he'd bend over at the back of the stand playing these strange outside lines, really quiet, and when you looked him, he'd say, "Man, that's Schoenberg." Was it you or me who got stuck on a gig all night with a band where the drummer was the leader's brother-in-law? The guy who had to play the same thing with both hands and both feet at the same time, he was so uncoordinated.

Or cars, we could certainly talk about cars. You picked me up at O'Hare one night in sub-zero weather and drove me home in a classy old Jag from the period of fabulous English coachworks and iffy mechanics and explained that you had had a Chevy V-8 put it in. "This is a real car," you said, accelerating up a ramp. I know what you mean. I like old Cadillacs myself and have one I call The Reading Room, because I go out and lounge in one of its big leather seats for my after-dinner cigar in the winter months.

Remember Dodger Stadium when Valenzuela was pitching? Innocent nights, when you and I still smoked Pall Malls, and when the Stadium still had an organist. Remember my old show-biz pal, the dancer, who would break her unforgiving diet only for baseball games with two hot dogs, two bags of peanuts, and a Carnation chocolate shake? Remember the Hollywood Bowl under a full moon with the Count Basie band wailing? Remember the old Reservoir Tennis Courts under a mist in the Beverly Hills summer night? Remember the unemployed actors and screenwriters and real estate hustlers who used to hang out there?

Now this story I know is mine. I once knew a Vietnam vet, a big tall redheaded guy who hung out in bars, and who was the sole survivor of his platoon. He told war stories. Only problem was, he had forgotten which were which. He had read all the classics of history, and when he told his tales, his own experiences got all wound up with those recounted by Bernard Fall and Cornelius Ryan and Bruce Catton and Thucydides, in a world where wars were all one.

Remember our wives? Remember our kids? Come on, old friend. American politics shifts around every couple of years, and not really all that much. Is politics really worth throwing away a lifetime?

Your pal,

Larry

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Ping

[Greg_99]

bttt

[subterfuge]

I have no idea what this is about.

[marty60]

Very nice. To bad if will fall on Deaf ears in the Blue group. hate eats a person up and destroys the soul. Most of the Dumocrat party probably would think happiness is a waste of time in the crusade to destroy America.

[Miss Marple]

Apparently Mr. Henry is friends with a democrat who has gone off the deep end, and has written a public letter to try to get the guy to come to his senses.

Sad story...one of many in this country.

[susiek]

I heard a woman on tv a few weeks ago blaming Bush (of course) for how "divided" the nation is. She said that it was so bad that the GOP moms the Dem moms at play group sit in separate areas and don't interact. That's not Bush's fault, that's the fault of the supposed adults in that group who have allowed politics to become so personally polarizing that they can't be respectful in spite of their differences. If political opponenets are mature about it then some interesting conversations will ensue. But to refuse to speak at play group? The fact that she blamed that on anyone but herself just demonstrates what a nation of "it's not my fault, someone else should take responsibility and fix this for me" weenies we have become.

[shadowman99]

You don't?

Do you not have any friends who consider themselves liberal?

I do have friends who are liberals. Old friends. People I grew up with. And the last few times I've seen them there's an awkward effort to not talk about politics.

I get tired of feeling like my friends view me as some sort of alien, or worse, they see me as being in league with nazi @ssholes. I know they are wondering how I could vote for Bush. The bumper stickers on their cars tell me they certainly did not.

I have old dear friends and poitics is creating a chasm between us.

It's enough that some days I wonder if I shouldn't just try to tune it all out. The other sheeple seem happy enough, and they have all of their friends.

[marty60]

Very sad for the children. Your final sentence is sadly to true.

[mpackard]

I dont have any liberal friends, I lost the last one I had when Clinton beat 41. It was at about that time that I began realizing that Dems do not share ANY of the same values with me. Now when I make friends, and yes, when I started dating after my divorce, I search out people with my values. At 41 I want peace in my family and friendships and I cannot have that with folks that I cant trust, and I dont trust anyone who doesn't believe that there is a right and a wrong. I dont trust people that can justify ANY behavior.

[TheForceOfOne]

Liberals stab themselves with political knives and scream they're being murdered. The two Americas theme is basically reality -vs- Liberal dreams.

[susiek]

I agree that many liberals are insufferable because they refuse to do what I talked about earlier--be mature and respectful. Rather than try to listen to conservatives, they say that any conservative is stupid and evil. You can't be friends with someone like that.

However, there are a lot of people out there who have voted democrat or have some democrat tendencies, but they aren't stark raving close-minded leftists. Those are the people that I can be (and am) friends with. Sometimes politics doesn't come up, but when it does, it's ok. I don't agree with their ideas, and I say so, but I do so calmly and without personal attacks. You'd be surprised how many people who call themselves democrats only do so because they weren't very politically aware until they got to college or their first job and then all they heard was the left. They are not the shrill, angry, hateful leftists, and friendships and productive debates with them are quite possible.

[colorcountry]

My husband lost his best friend Thom in 1992. He was a lifelong huntin' buddy, his "best man" at our wedding - had been a roomate for eight, mind-bending, woman-chasing years.

Thom, you see, is a "union" man, a resident of Oregon, who stands in lockstep with the Dems. My husband is a small business owner, gun enthusiast who came to his political senses when he met me. < smile>

The only hope is....our daughter and his son met on the internet and found they have a LOT in common. I hope she is as convincing as I about the true values and convictions we have taught her in a conservative home; and in the next generation bring him to "our" side.

[alwaysconservative]

I shared my painful story on the linked thread. I'm hoping that the hurt I feel will ease with time. Thanks for posting this.

[mass55th]

I just posted this on the old FR thread, but thought it was appropriate to put here in light of the subject matter:

Several years ago while I was working on my thesis, I contacted some family members of the man who commanded the Civil War unit I was researching. They have all been very nice to me. I personally travelled and met two of the great-granddaughters and their husbands, and have kept in touch periodically with them, also exchanging Christmas cards each year.

One thing has really bugged me though, especially since the 2000 election. Each year at Christmas, one of these sisters (and her husband) sends a standard form letter full of political horse manure. The other sister and her husband (a retired Navy officer) have nothing to prove politically, and use the Christmas cards to send their holiday cheers. I find it totally inappropriate for these retired college instructors to use their traditional holiday greetings as a means to spill their political guts. I thought that this was supposed to be a time of cheer and good will. They wasted two large paragraphs (in an otherwise short note), to demean President Bush, his policies and the war in Iraq. One of their lines in this year's letter is: "...and make judicial choices that do not favour right wing ideologues."

I'm finding it harder and harder to be nice. I'm almost tempted to send a card telling them how I feel and sign it: Your friendly-neighborhood right-wing ideologue.

These people are supposed to be educators, but perhaps that is part of the their problem. They actually believe that Iraq could be contained like the Soviet Union. There's nothing like living in la la land.

I'm probably moving to Florida next year sometime and will just forget to send them my new address. That way they'll never find me and I won't have to wade through their yearly political baloney to find their season's greetings.

[xkaydet65]

The really interesting aspect of this letter is the Free Republic thread he links to. The post and the responses, almost totally, are intelligent, sympathetic and devoid of bile and anger. As I was reading them I wondered how a post such as that would be treated on DU.

I cannot tell you how chagrined I am by the effects politics has had on relationships. And I am not being partisan when I say the anger and bile is almost completely one way. From the Left.How have they come to see us and the world in this vile light? I know the stuff that went on here during impeachment was charged with invective, but at its worst, it never reached the daily rants on liberal sites, and I never allowed my view of Clinton to interfere with my relationships with friends or co workers who defended him.I am appalled by the direction this is taking and I do not really understand why this is happening.

[subterfuge]

Yeah, I was just making light of the fact that the guy's recollections were overdone and not essential to what he was trying to convey.

Most of my friends are like-minded. However I've found that those acquaintances that are liberal and who were pulling for Kerry, weren't that serious about the whole issue to begin with. It was a big deal to them until it was over and now they've gone back into their little leftist cocoons and don't really get into the substantive political matters--just like before the media and Michael Moore got everyone stirred up.

[TheForceOfOne]

Beyond the hysteria of politics many people are nice considerate people with good intentions. When one chooses to endeavor into the political spectrum they soon find a litmus test as to your standing in society. I do not mind debating people or adding my two cents to the current topic of conversation but it kills me when people come off as very political and when questioned can't even tell you who is the current Vice-President of the United States. I do believe that politics causes many problems in life and Government fans the flames by trying to control our lives. I know people who are very smart and have the college degrees to prove it and yet they have no common sense at all. I call this book smart. Have you ever heard the quote, If you're 20 and you're not a liberal you have no heart, and if you are 40 and you're not a conservative you have no brain? I love that one! lol

[susiek]

"Have you ever heard the quote, If you're 20 and you're not a liberal you have no heart, and if you are 40 and you're not a conservative you have no brain? I love that one! lol"

I heard that one, but I was a conservative at 20 so I don't like it--I'd like to think I was just mature enough to have already developed a brain to go along with my heart!

[TheForceOfOne]

You're ahead of the curve, at 20 I was still sewing my wild
oats. The only thing I really cared about was chasing women, a total wolf/goof. Conservatism cannot be fully appreciated until you have true responsibility and take accountablity for your actions. You cannot instill values into someone who doesn't understand their own value to society or the lack of. Good parenting is the first key to a child's success or failure in life and prevention against liberal professors who try to warp their minds.