The Democratic Epiphany

So I was in class the other day, watching people make the same tired arguments that we just need to get into the "ignorant" communities that vote Bush and provide them with a broader world view. AS IF! I hate being condescended to, and I think most people agree with me on this. Suddenly I thought, gosh, you shouldn't "go in," you should "go to." I'm sorry I didn't say it out loud in class, but I guess I was in such an academic setting, talking about going to chuch might have made me look even crazier than I usually do.

Civic minded liberals need to get out of their computer chairs and go back to Church, or Temple, or whatever. They need to reintegrate themselves into communities that still meet face to face on a daily and weekly basis, communities that are not specifically tailored to meet their needs. I know, its a terrible thing to have to move amongst people who don't share your love of feng shui and The New Republic, but if we reenergize moderate churches that are struggling to survive, or even get involved with churches that may not be so moderate, we can physically cross the divide that was so apparent in the polling booths. Perhaps we will find religious associations help to make our voices heard in a more meaningful way then simply donating to MoveOn and trying to get good advertising spots on TV.

After thinking about this, I did a search and found this article from The Christian Science Monitor.

"The political right and political left have agreed that religion equals the religious right. The right has done this because they want to own the issue, and some on the left have done this because they almost want to dismiss the issue," says Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners, a magazine covering faith and politics.

To make change, we must change ourselves.