CONVERSATIONS WITH CONSERVATIVES PART ONE

I feel like both Lionel Ritchie and John the Baptist. I love that and I'm smiling right now. But it's true. On one hand, I feel like Lionel Ritchie with his "Hello" song - I know that only a handful of people read this and I'm not shaking up the discourse of the country with this blog. I'm sure that a lot of these entries go unread.

To John the Baptist: "A voice in the wilderness..." I do think I have a message. I do think it can affect discourse. But I'm in the desert. Not the dessert, I don't like sugar.

So...I have a dear friend who is a total right wing conservative. Many of my progressive friends ask me why I even bother to talk to "those people." Well, because I've gotten to know them as people and while I vehemently disagree with them, I also love them. And they vehemently disagree with me but they also love me. This can be accomplished. That's why the Washington posturing so disappoints me. I wish I could go up there with a paddle and put everyone in a corner and lecture them on how they they are "bad actors" as the Nuns used to tell us. I reference the Nuns because they scared the crap out of me and all the other kids in my class so maybe a scary nun has to go to congress to straighten them out. Just behavior-wise. Not on policy. Which so segues into what I want to talk about. I really didn't plan this, it's total stream of consciousness that just worked out.

My wonderful friend wanted to respond to my blog but not ON the blog because then I would engage him in argument and we know, from past experience, that doing so winds up with hurt feelings and neither of us want that. So he sent his responses privately and they will remain so.

What I will tell you is that almost all of them had to do with religion. And that is my issue and my problem with right-leaning people. They want to legislate morality, and morality is in the eyes of the individual, depending completely upon what religion or philosophy they have incorporated into their lives. THAT'S THE WHOLE PROBLEM.

If I still wanted to be Catholic I would be. I'm not. I've fallen and I can't get up. If I wanted to be a Jehovah Witness I would. I don't want to. If I wanted to be a Baptist, I would. I don't want to. If I wanted to be a crazy ass Colorado Springs Evangelical, they're right down the road. I don't want to go there!

This does not mean that I want to deny any one of the millions of people out there in this big, wide country the right to be what they want to be. JUST DON'T LAY IT ON ME.

There are sects and religions that believe in polygamy, incest and inter-breeding, complete celibacy, no birth control, pacifism, war, killing black people, vegetarianism, dancing as the work of Satan, snake handling and extra terrestrial birthrights. Just to name a few. And every person who subscribes to any one of those religions believes in it with all of their heart. Believes it is their road to salvation. Who is right? Every one who is a member of a congregation at this moment says "I am right. I believe in the word of God as spoken to me by my faith." Including the extra-terrestrials.

Stop legislating morality. Morality is arbitrary. Morality is, in the end, between me and God. You and God. Individually. While you celebrate your faith in numbers, your relationship with God will forever be personal.

If you don't want to have sex with someone of your gender don't do it. You still don't have the right to legislate it just because your particular religion says it's wrong. If you don't believe in abortion don't do it.

Your religion and its laws have never lived through the horrendous decision that lies in a women who faces an untenable situation in making that life altering decision. I shudder every time a man talks about banning abortion. Especially when, so often, that man has put his weenie where it didn't belong and could, well, have been responsible for an unplanned pregnancy.

In the end, Jesus said it. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."

If your religion says that a particular act is against God then let God handle it. We have plenty of legislative and political issues to deal with. We don't need to meddle in God's affairs. If you TRULY believe that in the end, people will get their just rewards why can't you just move on? Wouldn't life be simpler if we got religion out of politics, the way our founding fathers meant it to be?

Thomas Jefferson was truly Doubting Thomas. That's why he so strongly wanted religion to be completely separated from our legislation and politics. We are to TOLERATE all religions, not allow them to LEGISLATE.

The arguments of my conservative friends melt away if we apply the true spirit of the constitution. Now, they don't melt away in the avenues of discourse. We can forever discuss and argue whether something is moral, and I love sparring with people who have actually read the bible and want to have a purely theocratic discussion because, generally, that is an intelligent discussion and repartee. It is so because it is devoid of politics. It is the discussion that is meant to be. A philosophical discussion of morality and spirituality.

I will never believe that a segment of the population has the right to vote against the civil rights of another segment of the population, based upon their opinion of morality. The two have nothing to do with one another. Let God handle the morality. Let the rest of us work to make a better society.

I was working on spreadsheets this afternoon when breaking news showed on MSNBC, which I usually monitor without sound while I work. So, I saw the moment when it was announced that the last of our combat troops have left Iraq.

A brilliantly planned exit authorized by the Obama administration and coordinated with the Pentagon has been ongoing on while we've slept. As I sit, comfortably in my living room writing these words, Richard Engel, the embedded reporter who was authorized by the pentagon to break the news, is standing in Kuwait watching the last of the American Combat Troops entering Kuwait.

This final exit was planned to take place during Ramadan to assure a safe departure and was described as almost a "taxi caravan." They took the main highways out of the country while dawn was approaching.

While 50,000 consultants remain, they are mostly contractors and not combat troops. Horns are honking, people are in tears. As am I. My heart has been beating out of my chest since about 4:00 this afternoon.

I will save the discussions on the contentious issues of this war. I will have many occasions to discuss this. I'm looking at unabashed joy on the face of Richard Engel. I just watched the gates close as the last vehicle passed through. I'm watching seasoned television analysts with red blotches on their cheeks. Richard smiled and described the tent which is the first stop for our troops as thick with cigar smoke.

I pray for the Iraqi people who have to try to get through their daily lives...a labor and a hardship greater than the poorest of the poor in America. They are as much my brothers and sisters walking on this blue ball circling the universal sky as my next door neighbor. We will not forget them and we will talk about this in days to come.

But for the moment, I want to rejoice with every mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, relative, friend, and citizen of this country who, with heart pounding, is awaiting the return of our precious treasure. While Iraq is not in our past, the war is over. I didn't think I'd ever be able to print those words.

Just at the moment when faith runs its course, a reason to believe begins its life. And so it goes...

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