Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go…and for some of us, that means venturing into somewhat hostile territory if your family’s political leanings are the opposite of yours.
Around my Thanksgiving table will be my conservative dad and sister-in-law, with whom, thankfully, I have enough in common with outside of politics that the discussion need never stray there, my centrist mom, and on the liberal team is my husband, brother and me. We’re all fans of a good debate, however, so it’s likely politics might come up.
Sara Robinson of Blog For Our Future (via Alternet) has ten ways to counter the most common myths conservatives believe about, as she calls us, progressives. For example: Liberals are a bunch of elitists who hate decent working class Americans. Robinson’s response?
“…as opposed to those sainted corporate men-of-the-people who fly around in private jets and pull down eight-figure salaries while closing plants and cutting 10,000 jobs at a time. That's what real populism looks like, you betcha.”
And of course, there is the family-values argument – which, given the fact you’re sitting there eating turkey with someone whose worldview makes you want to weep, kind of doesn’t make sense because why would you subject yourself to such a thing if you didn’t value family? And as Robinson points out, what that really is about is a fundamental difference in what constitutes a “real” family.
Real, imaginary, chosen or blood, enjoy your families as much as you can tomorrow. Worst-case scenario, it’s only for a few hours.
