Preaching to the Choir

Here's what bothers me.

People protesting whatsoever...to their friends!

Ok...we all hate high taxes, war, inadequate health care, potholes, jellyfish...the list goes on.

But standing on a street corner holding a sign as your friends and neighbors drive by will never make any difference at all.

"I hate So and So"

"So do I"

End of conversation.

If you want to change something...if you want to persuade someone to your point of view...you have to start by talking with somebody who...DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU!

If you're a Democrat, go stand on a Republican street corner and wave your sign.

If you're a Republican go to a Democrat district and yell about your position.

Maybe one out of a hundred drivers will honk to support you. Maybe one in a hundred will roll down their window to engage in a conversation. Maybe one in a hundred will actually stop the car, get out and listen to what you have to say. Maybe then, and only then, will you be able to convince them that your ideas and solutions are better than theirs and they'll switch to your way of thinking.

We are so polarized in this country that we don't even listen to the other guy any more. We see Obama and we jeer. We see Palin and we turn off the TV. We hear Beck or Limbaugh and we change the station. We see Pelosi's name in a headline and we turn the page.

How can we possibly expect to solve the problems that confront us if we won't even listen to the other guy?

And how can we listen to the other guy if we're only talking with people who agree with us?

Well, the answer is that we won't and can't. Unless we shut up long enough to listen and until we start to engage with people with whom we disagree we will be doomed to a steady decline and eventual dissolution.

"Stop, Look and Listen"

If that's good enough to keep us from getting squashed by a train it should be good enough to keep us from getting squashed by the runaway locomotive of our own myopic self interest and destructive behavior.

So, with that in mind, have you heard what O'Donnell said today...?