I DO NOT enjoy nor agree with fighting between friends over what candidate we support or do not support in the 2008 elections. Energetic discussion, okay. But I don't get a lot out of this type of argument. I know it's easy to get personally attached to the emotions and the ideas represented in this landmark election. (I know this as well as anyone.)
A historical run by a black candidate in a land that has grown mighty in part because of the painful, rending, and utterly divisive legacy of slavery. A historical run by a woman in a land that once considered women property rather than independent agents of volition and consciousness and power, and still has far to go. A historical run by any candidate during a time when our nation truly needs an exceptional leader and representative and actor upon the world stage.
But any way I look at this, I feel no need to heap derision or insult upon those who support a different candidate. Speaking for myself, I doubt there will be any bad blood between us if we end up backing a different person. Granted, if you back a certain party, you may (simply by natural selection types of behaviors and not any litmus test) not be in my everyday life. But no matter what, it's not worth a fight to me. I know that.
Although...I guess I didn't used to feel that way. After all, I fought with a friend when I voted for a third-party candidate in 2000 (as a New York resident) and I fought with another friend when he voted for a third-party candidate in 2004 (as a Pittsburgh resident). And great distance grew, for years, between us. And looking back, neither of those fights were really worth much. And neither of them achieved much. But they happen easiliy enough, eh? Sometimes they cannot be avoided, it seems. Maybe sometimes they can be.
For the most part, I don't spin negative against other candidate's supporters. Most of the time, I find myself speaking in a positive way about the person/ideas I support. Simply because those thoughts are the ones that have moved me lately to comment on the Presidential race, when I do.
Eventually, the shouts and the confetti will settle, and the news articles and magazines and TV stations will move on to other topics, thus drawing our eyes to other fights, and we will be here. Still.
If anything is going to leave a mark or cause a permanent strain between people, it is the hostility leveled in massive volleys and mostly indiscriminately at the supporters of an alternate candidate. And I don't lay this at the feet of any one group of supporters. I've seen what I'd call extreme and uncontrolled responses from all camps under discussion. I think I know why this is. And again, mostly the obvious. It is a race like no other I've seen in my lifetime, I know that. Inarguably historical for various reasons. And from what I've seen, many of us find ourselves tying deep and personal ideas to these symbols of our will, these elected officials. Despite what we assure ourselves, they are much more than office-holders or "public servants." These men and women are our surrogate world-shakers, our stand-in mountain movers, our icons of Visible Change and Possibility in the world. And also our means of marking powers restored or taken away from us and those like us.
So far (and in my own judgment, of course) I've not been hostile to others when dealing with this election issue. But I have to admit, I did lose my temper once. And that was a sign to me that I needed to change my behaviors and what I was putting into my mind, what I was ingesting, and what energy I was encouraging.
Some of my friends say the "media" made this election year about sex, or about race. But I think that claim is...not sensible. As I see it, you can't have a black man run and a white woman run for President and not have the discussion largely be about race, or sex. It's just impossible. After all, what makes these respective campaigns remarkable or historical in the first place? Right.
Most of us have been a bit intense here or there. And it is not yet March. Let me just offer a reminder that we can use our passion for whatever platform or candidate or local action we support to positive ends. We need not invert it and dump our anger and pain and disappointment on friends who essentially believe in the same things we do. I know I'm saying the obvious. Reminders, I think, are obvious by nature. But I think, too, that I needed to remember this. Most importantly, I am fully aware of whose job it is to lead me. Mine. And who is to be blamed when I falter. Myself. And I don't blame friends or acquaintances if I fail at that. I don't want to. And I won't mistake supporters of other candidates for demons who nip at the heels of my own personal Dream. I really see such people no differently than I happen to see friends who are into—say—"Mostly Country Music." I may not bump a hip to the same melodies they do, and while we're at this particular party I'd rather choose the playlist...but whatever, right? At least we are all getting some joy out of the whole thing!
I hope.
Don't hate!