Posted on 05/11/2009 7:45:13 AM PDT by Iron Munro
Dear friends, family, loved ones, conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, my brother in law, Sam, and my cousin Joe: I am sorry and you were right.
These are not easy words for anyone to utter, much less a leftist from Berkeley, or a recovering leftist, that is. Even though I've been in recovery for 14 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, leftists are always right in your face, in an I-hate-you-if-you-disagree sort of way. Hence, this letter of amends to all the people I've lectured, scolded, ranted and raved at, and otherwise annoyed during my 30 plus years of "progressive" politics.
My recovery program urges a fierce moral inventory, a cleansing of heart and mind (kind of like a "forgiveness tour" but without the scary dictators), so here goes:
To my brother in law, Sam, for blasting you in that Chinese restaurant for voting for Reagan, mea culpa.
To my cousin Joe for calling you a traitor when you became an MBA, started holding a real job (as opposed to most of us Berkeley types who are psychotherapists, massage therapists and aromatherapists), and became a conservative, my bad.
To my goddaughter whom I told when she was l0 years old that Republicans were bad, Democrats were good (yes I really did say this), and who got confused and tearful because she lives in a suburb where most people are Republicans, kid, what in the world was I thinking?
To my leftist friends, with whom I agreed that 9/ll was the US's fault, you and I were all such jerks.
To those potential friends whom I dumped when I found out you were conservative, your gain is my loss.
To all those columnists and editors whom I harangued with angry letters and e mails, sorry, sorry, sorry.
And finally to me, Robin, for installing you for the last 27 years in the far left cult of the People's Republic of Berkeley, where Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the SLA, where the Black Panthers had their violent beginnings and the heads of the Black Muslims are jailed for murder and rape, my apologies, girl.
I didn't know any better. I thought the whole world lived in areas where the streets are filthy, aggressive street behavior is allowed because the perps are victims of capitalism, and where you can easily get mugged walking down a street or eating in a restaurant at noon. (By the way, with the Left in charge, expect gangs, crime, indoctrination of 5 year olds and general anarchy to be coming soon to a neighborhood near you.)
Given that the media is pretty much censored (good luck finding a conservative book in your local "independent" book store or hearing a Republican speak anywhere), you didn't know that a party of grown ups even existed that didn't advocate screaming at others as the preferred mode of communication. So to my dear Robin, apologies for what I put you through, what I deprived you of, and my pledge to do better.
Cousin Joe, Sam, et al, you may be wondering how I did a l80 in 1 1/2 years. How did I go from a rabid, sanctimonious liberal whom you steadfastly avoided at family gatherings to a fan of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage? Recovery encourages us to share our story, so here's mine:
In February of 2008, I saw a new client, a bright and sensitive young woman who came in looking like she just escaped a war zone. In some ways she had; she had innocently shared with others at her job that she voted for Hillary rather than Obama. Immediately she was being targeted for abuse that put her in fear for not only her job, but her life.
We both suddenly became aware that something had grown really dark in the Democratic Party. I started hearing about many other incidents where loyal Democrats were being physically and emotionally threatened for supporting Hillary. A woman in Berkeley had her front window broken because it displayed a poster of Hillary. Randi Rhodes, an Air America talk show leftist, called Hillary a f______ witch. (Rhodes was recently promoted to a national talk radio show, illustrating another disturbing trend: the deafening silence about what Rush Limbaugh has dubbed the new "thug-ocracy.)
An acquaintance had her car broken into, and the only item stolen was a NoObama bumper sticker. A South Park episode featured an episode where a nuclear weapon was being aimed at Hillary's genitals. My local greeting card store sold very flattering cards about Obama, insulting ones about Hillary, and a Hillary "nutcracker." When I complained, the young male manager literally laughed in my face.
Things went from bad to worse when Sarah Palin entered the scene. When Geraldine Ferraro ran for Vice President, there was no debasement of her character, no sexual threats. But with Palin, a full scale "wilding" ensued that chillingly reminded me of the random sexual attacks on women by gangs of men in New York. She was called every vile name in the book by both male and female liberals.
Actress Sarah Bernhardt hoped a gang of black males would rape her. When Palin's church was torched with children inside, the press was missing in action (somehow I imagine the press would have been all over this if Obama's church were torched). Not only was the misogyny disgusting, but the classism was abhorrent. The Democrats, by ridiculing Palin's voice and her education, were acting like arrogant snobs. The party had changed, I had changed, and the differences looked irreconcilable.
The final straw for me was when a close friend flew into a rage at me when she learned I wasn't supporting Obama. The political became personal when she began impugning my character. Worse yet, she tried to intimidate me into changing my mind by threatening to dump me.
Suddenly a light went on. The peace and love and flower power of the old left was dead and gone (if it even existed to begin with except in my imagination). The Democrats had morphed into a power hungry Thought Police, and I was done with them. My new motto in life: don't PC on me.
So this is my letter of amends, and I hope that I can be forgiven by all whom I've offended. I knew not what the heck I was doing. But now the problem is: how in the world does one be a conservative these days? How to stay brave and committed when conservatives are being targeted, punished, and shunned on a daily basis? How to sleep at night knowing that the country I have finally come to love may be destroyed from within by a massive Big Brother government?
I guess I'll just have to do a step one, as we 12 stepper's call it, and turn it all over to my Higher Power.
Love,
Robin
something had grown really dark in the Democratic Party......are we talking skin color?.......just kidding.
Nice to wake up aint it? now just remember who the NAZIS really are.
Welcome to the world of rational people! We all make mistakes - It is really difficult to own up to our mistakes and make a fresh start.
I wish all the best to this person.
I lived in the Bay Area for almost 15 years and you are right. A couple of additions to your list - The Franchise Tax Board, a gang of incompetent, greedy thugs. Another is the schools, manned by, again, incompetents who amplify the damage by their brainwashing of their charges.
A naturally beautiful place to live but completely corrupt in terms of social and political morays.
Lighten up, Francis.
Apology accepted, and welcome back to real life.
Yup. Liberals exist in herds. Conservatives stay conservative, regardless.
It's hard to have principles.
yep, I read the entire thing waiting for the line "PSYCHE! Bite ME you stupid Republicans!"
Somewhat pyrrhic, but I'm not one to refuse a --seemingly-- sincere apology. If in fact that' s what it it?
Be that as it may and apologies, sincere or otherwise, aside?
It's really too late, now.
I'm surprised the left hasn't started burning crosses in people's yards...They "debate" with the grace of bullies and thugs - cross burning is a logical "next".
Yep - he's one of us now - his eyes have been opened.
Yep - he's one of us now - his eyes have been opened.
Ping
'Robin' will now be totally and forever hated by the loving left.
Hell hath no fury like a leftist scorned.
.
Take two David Horowitzes and call me in the morning.
Seriously, I think this is the main reason that otherwise-intelligent people are liberals. They can’t bear to admit they’ve been wrong about everything for at least 60 years.
The most heartening idea I’ve heard lately is this: The left’s hatred is born in fear. They are afraid of us. Good.
Certain parts the WORLD - the liberal parts.
That's why we get so much "bashing" no matter what we do.
As a former kalifornian (the valley), I can’t imagine a Berserkely conservative as really being a conservative.
Scrappleface??
Years ago, I went to hear David Horowitz speak at UC Berkeley. When the crowd rioted and David was spirited away by his security, I had to literally run to my vehicle to avoid a beating by the liberal crowd.
At the start of the Afghanistan campaign at a peace rally, a large ghetto-dwelling gentleman told my girlfriend-now-wife to go back to Europe, and when she said "I ain't goin' nowheres" he told her she needed to die. He also called her a blue-eyed devil. Police stood by, but did not act.
Immediatelty after 9/11 I put a small poster in my back window that portrayed Osama Bin Laden in the hairs of a scope and the text "Snipers wanted". Folks in traffic wanted to beat my @ss for that one, and they let me know.
My gay brother reports that he and his S.F. echo-chamber homo friends sincerely think that Ronald Reagan is the cause of the AIDS epidemic, because he denied AIDS funding back in the 80s.
I do truly love the land of my birth (SF Peninsula), but if the San Francisco Bay Area was targeted with a nuke and I was the only one who knew, I would merely call my grandma (in Palo Alto) to say goodbye and tell her I love her. The values of SF Bay Areans are, in many ways, a cancer upon our society, and their absence would not cause me a lot of sadness.
I thank God he made me end up in TX. I have a good job, a good house, and a wholesome, small-town-bred Texan wife who "don't want no truck with them california hippies". (Actually, referring the the peace rally, above: My wife was interviewed for the local news and I have a VHS tape of her saying "I'm sorry, but sometimes peace is NOT the answer!". That's some Texas common sense right there!
When conservatives get out of their fantasy world we might make some gains.
Too little too late is absolutely correct. With illegitimate Barry - no birth certificate - & this CONgress we have passed the point of no return. You can be as vocal as in the past to change the country to sensibility but that time passed. Just a small quote from Alexander Tyler, who many know of here. ...from dependency to degeneracy to bondage.
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