forsyth | "Real America"

A prediction for you. Over the next four years, we're gonna hear a lot of bullshit about "Real America" and "Real Americans", a lot of it barely disguised cover for bigotry, like the eleven states that voted for constitutional bans on gay marriage. And what makes this bullshit work is that liberals and moderates don't argue it, they even sometimes believe it themselves. Driving a pickup truck and hunting isn't any more "Real America" than driving a compact car and shopping at an organic grocery. Because I'll let you in on a secret. There's no "Real America" outside of ideals. And these ideals are ones like freedom, justice, equality, powerful ideas that aren't restricted to blue states or red states. There's no place that's "Real America", when America includes California and Texas, Washington and Florida, Hawaii and Alaska, Massachusets and South Carolina. There's no "Real America", there's just Americans, who are people like everybody else. One of the biggest reasons Bush won, and now believes he has a "clear mandate" (with 51% of the vote. only 51%), is because everybody's afraid to call people on their bullshit, let them make Liberal a bad word, let them redefine issues to favor themselves. (e.g."Death Tax") Don't stay quiet in front of them, don't let them try and attribute their specific views to "Real America" or "Real Americans". We're all Real Americans, and it's time we stopped letting anybody pretend otherwise.