Go over and read it here:
After the inauguration my office was all atwitter about the new BLACK president we had. Praising every inch of him as if he lost a digit of a finger it’d have been worshipped as a holy relic. I wanted to scream “HE’S A SOCIALIST! And what do you really KNOW about him anyway? He is NOT all that! Michelle is NOT pretty! He will RUIN us!” But I put on my iPod, and kept silent.
This post could be a description of conservatives in Massachusetts until the Scott Brown election, people knew that to speak out meant that you were not “one of us”. Republicans, conservatives etc were lesser beings.
One of the most liberating moments for myself was on Election day 2008. I had a McCain/Palin sign that I picked up at a NH rally and went down to the polling place, after voting I stood there. holding that sign. There were gaps of disbelief, there was at least one, “You’ve gotta be kidding”…
…but there were quite a few thumbs up and at least one person who joined me and took my place for a while so I could take a break.
The power of knowing that you were not alone, the knowledge that is was OK to oppose this president, the willingness to say it when everyone else said no can make all the difference. Things changed in a hurry in Massachusetts once that fear was gone.
There are costs but freedoms always cost something.
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