To my Democrat friends… if I have any…

Discussions between Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats can frequently become acrimonious if not out-and-out hostile.  Not only do they disagree, but they tend to disagreeable in doing so.

In my opinion, the problem is pretty basic in nature… Republicans think the Democrat is wrong but the Democrat thinks the Republicans are simply evil and, therefore, do not see the need to apply any supporting logic to their arguments.

As an example, the Republican may note a flaw in, for instance, Obamacare but the Democrat contends that the Republican is just a racist that hates Obama because he is black.

Or, similarly, the Republican might suggest that Hillary Clinton’s usage of a private mail server was inappropriate because of the ensuing vulnerability to hacking, but the Democrat claims the Republican is a misogynist that hates her because she is a woman.

Really guys?  Do you really think that everybody that voted for Trump is a racist, sexist, white power Nazi?  That half of America is composed of bigots?  That the sole rational in voting against Hillary was that she was a woman?

Did you not notice that, in the last eight years under Barak Obama, the Democrats lost 69 house seats, 13 US Senate seats, 12 governorships and 913 legislative seats?   Can you not understand that people disapproved of him because of his ideas and not the color of his skin?

Would you, just for a moment, consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, Trump won 306 electoral votes on the merits of his positions – and, perhaps more tellingly, the lack of merit in Hillary’s positions?  That it was not a “white backlash” against Obama but, merely a repudiation of his stunningly unsuccessful programs and the direction he was pushing the country?  And that the electorate, in its wisdom, correctly assumed that Hillary was simply more of the same?

It was not about their color or their sex, it is what they want and how they think.  It is not a case of good vs. evil but, rather, it is a case of what is right and what is wrong for the country.  And most Conservative Republicans think that most Liberal Democrats are wrong.

And so does much of the rest of the country.

Dick Pilling, Chair