Just before I woke up this morning, I dreamed of a
Teapublican. I am aware of her via social media. I will call her Lisa.
I write for the political blog Addicting Info, and I utilize
various websites and public Facebook pages for content. Lisa is one of the many
Teapublicans I follow. She is also aware of me and has said some pretty nasty
and scathing things about me, so my association with her feels more personal,
even though we’ve never met. While
following her, I have learned a little bit about who she is. She has a pretty
good sense of humor. She has sadness in her life, which she has made public.
She loves to laugh. She loves her family. But because she is a Teapublican, she
also picks on people – some celebrities, some political, and I will grant her
they are fair game. But when she picks on them, she becomes quite nasty. She
uses hatred to ‘entertain’ and it clearly works with her Teapublican following.
They latch on to her negativity and when I see it, I feel anger. I get very
upset with how divided we are as a nation.
I often use sarcasm in my articles and blogs when writing
about politics. I don’t believe I have used hatred or been the ‘mean girl’ and
I do make an effort to promote voting and making sure I am truthful, as well as
backing up my work with valid sources. I have found that Lisa also uses sources
but many of them are very much like FOX. She likes to source Breibart and
Drudge often and they are not always – or even often – reporters of the truth. But
I digress.
In my dream, Lisa and I attended some kind of conference.
It’s a bit fuzzy, so please forgive the fact I am not super-detailed, but I
think the conference was not political and it gave me a chance to view her as a
woman, a mother and a person who might be a friend of mine if the parties
weren’t so divided. In the last part of the dream, we were on a bench and she
had a cute animal on her head (it made sense at the time) and I was cooing to
the little critter. I looked at her and felt love (not romantic, just to be
clear) but in that moment, I didn’t see her politics at all. I recognized that
we have differing views but I genuinely felt love for her as a human being. I
remember feeling so sad that we were unable to really connect because our
political passions kept us on different sides and frankly, I cannot stomach the
hate and lies she preaches to her loyal followers.
I wish to add that neither side—the left or the right—are
completely innocent or perfect. If you are familiar with my opinion and writing,
you know that I am often sarcastic and get in my zingers. I am not afraid to
call out the trolls and I say it like I see it. Often the other side sees that
as offensive. But I don’t lie and I don’t promote hate. Tea Party folks have
called me an “ugly liberal,” “ slut,” and
“ baby killer.” I have been accused of being part of the left’s fringe
and my personal favorite—on Twitter, a woman said I was a “disgrace to
humanity.” I have an agenda: I want
people to vote. Of course, I want everyone to vote Democratic down the line on
November 6, 2012 but more importantly, I want EVERYONE to wake-up and get their
butts to the voting booths and let’s see what shakes out. It should be about
what the majority wants.
Getting back to the dream: Before I woke up completely, I
continued to dream about Lisa. I dreamed about writing this blog. A strong
feeling overcame me and I felt like for some reason, even if only for me, I
needed write about the fact I felt love for a person who in my waking hours
offends me. It’s not that I think it will make any real difference or that all
of a sudden, everyone will come together in love but maybe it’s just an
exercise in compassion and an opportunity to not bitch about what ‘the other
side’ is doing.
I’m sure as my lovey-dovey morning fog wears off and the
caffeine kicks in, I’ll be back to reading her posts with my jaw on the floor
and a complete sense of disgust. Before that happens, I just want to immerse in
the idea that underneath it all, we all just want to be loved and happy. Maybe
if Lisa were happier, she would see things differently. I don’t know. I DO
care. And I hope the U.S. is able to overcome all that divides us. I believe
with some real effort, we can —and with a second term for Obama and a
Democratic majority in Congress, we will. (Ha ha – had to get that in there!!!)
