Mood Indigo

A former choir director had a wry expression which has stuck with me to this day. When faced with in-house 'political' drama and uncharitable behavior in the workplace, which for him was the church, he would smile and say, "See how we Christians love one another."

His expression came to mind when I read this article from the Baltimore Sun this morning about the political race for the House of Delegates in District 9B. It appears to say that the Democratic Central Committee went out to get a "real" Democrat to run because the other candidate, Tom Coale, isn't "Democrat" enough for them.

I find that kind of disgusting.

I make no secret of the fact that I am a friend of Tom's, and this blog is a friend of his blog, if there is such a thing. But my rather visceral response to this isn't about that. It is about how I feel about being a Democrat, and how I feel about political discourse, generally.

Haven't you had discussions where you wished that the other person could completely hear you out, understand, and change their point of view? How often does that happen in real life? It is pretty rare, especially when it comes to politics. So, here we have someone who listened, who thought, who evolved. And changed.

And he's not Blue enough? Sheesh! Isn't having an intelligent, hard-working, committed, thoughtful person coming over to your side enough? This is right up there with older Pioneers refusing to yield power to anyone who hasn't been here long enough to be a "real Columbian". It's small-minded, and short-sighted, to boot.

You can tell a lot about an institution by how they treat their converts. I don't like what this is telling me. And I am a life-long Democrat, a died-in-the-wool Liberal. I don't know anything about the other candidate, but I truly wish someone in that camp would have one of those, "Duh! I could've had a V-8" moments and join forces to support Tom Coale's campaign.

At the heart of what I believe about the Democratic party is that it is NOT the party of small-mindedness. That is what I want to see, and that is what I will support, with my words, my time, and my funds.

How about you?

 

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