The Pop Conservative

At one of my jobs, I work with Conservatives.  They listen to Fox radio and Rush Limbaugh. They believe in the Bible.  They may not know much of the Bible, but they believe in it.  They believe in the Bible, but for them it seems like the Bible is only a tool used to support Fox and Rush.

I like and respect Conservatives who study different views and who can argue a good case for their beliefs, having understood other ideas.  I love talking to these people - they bring a lot to the table.  But I have no respect for debate from those who surround themselves with Fox radio and Rush L. day after day; and because they do, they think they know so much more than most about society, economics and politics.   

When my coworkers found out that I voted Democrat this year, one (23 years old) said in front of all my other co-workers, that for the first 20 years of life Liberals have a heart, but for the rest of their lives they're just plain stupid.  There was so much inside me that welled up in that moment, but I refrained from saying anything.  I felt like I wasn't going to change anybody's mind with a one minute response to the absurdity I just heard.  I guess in the moment, I just didn't think of any way that I could think of that would counter such a wild and mean spirited statement.  I suppose I could have said, "That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard."  And that would be true, but then, I don't like putting down people in front of others.  I don't even like putting them down in private.  So I took the blow and let it go.

People want to believe that their group is superior, or I should say, people want to feel like their group is superior to all others.  What I heard from my co-worker was just that.  He gave no legitimate reason to support his conclusion that Liberals are stupid, because he had no legitimate reason.  I'm sure that he heard enough of one side of the debate (Fox News, Rush L. and others) to convince him that we are stupid; and that made him feel good about himself and his beliefs.

I have lived in and worshiped in many groups and in many cities (and several countries).  Everywhere I go, I see that people need to feel like their group is the best or the one that is better than others in being good, right, moral, and so on.  But that feeling that "we are number one," or, "we are the best, because..." blinds them to reality. It is pride in a bad way.  I have seen it with Democrats, but more so recently with Born Again Republicans like my co-worker.

Arguments are getting less and less biblical (except a few chosen verses - usually out of context), and less and less knowledgable of any other side but their own.

I have occasionally met Republicans who think on their feet and have done their homework outside of the box (and I find them to be delightful), but I find them only rarely.

I have met Democrats who have likewise surrounded themselves in liberalism, but they don't seem to be compelled to tell everybody else about how superior they think they are.

I think my Christian conservative friends and coworkers are far more versed in Rush and Fox than they are in the Bible.  Their world views betray it.  Their talk betrays it.  Their prejudices betray it. 

Most Evangelicals think the Republican party is the closest to what the Bible would want, but I say that the Bible has both conservative and liberal views (socially and politically speaking); but dealing with money, what Jesus and most of the prophets pointed to was far more liberal than modern liberalism (as defined in the U.S. today).