"Most important election of our time".... and my Republican brother says... "You guys say that ....

[DrZeeLit]

"You guys say that every election"

He gets that gleam in his eye -- that rabid, Rush/Coulter/Hannity gleam -- "Gotcha!"

But I stick to my guns. I am not going to some meek corner to lick my "it's a free country, I'll just shut up now" wounds.

Not this time. Not this election. Not even for the fake peace of my family dinner table.

My answer is YES!, every election -- the last 2 and this one -- has been THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR TIME.

Why?
Look around at what is happening ...what has happened. And I could have played the "if" game, but I didn't need to do that.

A laundry list of death and destruction followed -- from natural disasters to banking to credit to homes to jobs to health care to food safety to product safety to education to justice to poverty to trade....

What could he say? He begins to call me names. Me. A sister he has known all his life. And all he has is the same tired OLD Republican talking points. They go on as if we, Democrats, are all still unemployed welfare hippies sitting in the park chanting about Nixon and smoking dope.

But he knows. KNOWS. That I have worked since I was sixteen. That I put myself through three degrees of college education. That I was a single mother. That I ruled out a "high power job" in the private sector for twenty years in trenches of public education. That I'm NOT that stereotype. HE KNOWS THIS.

But still he calls me names. Quitter. Traitor. Terrorist lover. Tax and spend. Big government.

I look at him, sadly, I think. I suppose I must have looked at him in that pathetic "you guys point the finger and it all comes back on you" face. That junior high teacher face. Yeah, I do that. But he's still in junior high -- at least with the name calling.

He says, oh yeah -- you're gonna enlighten the world -- it's all up to you -- you know better -- you have all the answers. Liberal elitist.

We both grew up in the same home -- 3 bedrooms for six kids and two parents. Mom a nurse; dad a teacher. Middle class all the way. Whatever we both have we have worked hard for -- he knows this. Elitist?

Name calling. Head in the sand. The delete button. It's all he's got. He knows nothing else. No - I take that back.
He doesn't WANT to know anything else. IT'S ABOUT FEAR. If he's been wrong all this time...he's not a "man."
Republicans are nothing if not good soldiers.
He listens to those talking points and he falls in line. That IS what they can do very well. They can follow.

But, I point out, what you have sorely lacked is a leader. Bush? Product of those last two elections? What do you like about Bush? Silence.

Which is why we get back to that -- THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR TIME.

If we do not change direction now... if we don't find a transformational leader -- who will inspire followers to join and change with the nation and the world -- then the death and destruction will ripple across this land in ways we never could imagine.

But when I say this, with the love of a sister, he sneers. "I'll be proud to have John McCain as my president."

I stopped. I wanted to talk issues and I could see a bunch of crap coming my way. He's too far gone.

I told him he had ceased to be anyone I would want to know or be related to.
Sad, but true.

And this is the metaphor for all of us.

I believe in two paths -- love and fear. Every action is a choice between those two. Love and fear cannot stand in the same place.

It's not that I don't love my brother, but enough of that knee-jerk fear and hatred and lashing out.

We must stand in the face of their fear and chose love.

I love my country. I love more than the flag and the land and the people. I love what we believe in and who we are when we are at our best.
I love my country.

This is the MOST important election of our time.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. How old is he?

Is he developmentally challenged in some manner?

[DrZeeLit]

3. Four years younger than I am -- egads... I'm going to give my age... (she tabs down)

I'm 56 years old.
He's 52.

I lived through the tumultuous 60's and have four friends on that Wall in DC.
His class missed that.
I graduated h.s. in 1969 and entered college on an academic scholarship.
He found himself in college on a baseball scholarship in 1973 -- the war just about done -- he missed the draft.

I think he might have been different would he have faced those dilemmas.

But I'm just guessing.

[City of Mills]

11. One thing I notice about people like your brother.

Defensive and angry. Every single Republican supporter I have ever encountered. Absolutely angry and defensive and prone to lashing out bitterly at anyone not sharing their distorted view of the world. My ex-wife's mom ridiculed her mercilessly because she had the gall to criticize Mitt Romney. My ex-wife, who LIVED in Massachusetts under Romney's administration, and her mom who lived in NH at the time. End result was my ex and her mom stopped talking for an extended period of time (where they used to talk daily). All over MITT FUCKING ROMNEY. I'm telling you, it's mental illness, literally, these people need therapy. They need to work out that anger.

[mckara]

2. Does Your Brother Have a "Get a Brain Morans" sign?

[Greyskye]

4. THE most important. Yep.

:hug:

Your dialog could have been between my wife and her brother. I don't think they've spoken to each other in the last year.

[guitar man]

5. My 55 year old Republican brother jumped the fence

He's been a Repub ever since he first voted in '72 and this time he's jumping the fence and voting for Obama. He said he's had enough of the way the thugs treat us working class dogs.

:woohoo:

[SavageDem]

6. A family tableau probably played out many places across this country...

Fortunately, my immediate family is all pretty much simpatico when it comes to our political leanings. But my wife's family is a different story: classic case of small-minded single-issue small-town people that are held hostage by fear, racism, and selfishness. "I don't want to pay more taxes!" "I don't know if I could vote for one of 'them'." "But Walmart has the cheapest prices."

I guess the only fortunate thing is that some of them don't even bother to vote. The old cop-out, "Well, it doesn't make any difference anyway."

Nice post! I'm sorry to hear about your estrangement from your brother, and I applaud you for continuing - this long, at least - to try and get through to him. I've been working on my wife's family for 20+ years, so I empathize completely.

[ensho]

7. he is a male, he has to put you down to maintain his one upness

nt

[Locrian]

8. demons

There are two types of people in this world: those who believe in demons and those who don't.

They say demons are just phantoms of our reptilian brain. The core "fears" and "anxieties" that we don't understand manifesting themselves into "demons" or some other phenomena.

The ones who can control their demons do so with: Science. Logic. Love. Compassion. Understanding. Intelligence.

The ones who cannot have missed some crucial development in their life. Since as an adult the brain becomes less flexible, there are a lot of people who will simply never outgrow this.

These people will always side with their fears and anxieties produced by their reptilian brain. They will ally with power, authority, "strength" - not of character or true strength but "might" (ie make war). They seek to dominate as to be "in control" when in reality they have none.

[DrZeeLit]

10. That is a great description. Mind if I pass it along to my son?

He's doing a GREAT job, campaigning for Obama.
But I know he and my brother are also battling back and forth.
I think it's a guy thing.

With me, my brother just pushes.
With my son (who is the oldest of all the grandchildren) it's a macho competition (on my brother's side).
My son, being very intelligent, takes the "challenge" of bringing my brother the facts.

My son and I often talk about why my brother is so ... difficult.

This will help.

Thanks so much!

[Locrian]

16. of course! be my guest n/t

[lostnfound]

9. My brother and sister are no longer speaking to each other.

DrZeeLit, I am so sorry.

I feel the same pain. And I see it everywhere.

[Evoman]

12. The propoganda is insidious. The results, like your brother, are terrifying.

Understand that I do not know your brother, nor am I judging him, but I find the fact that people accept ideas like his frightening. It is fairly easy to understand the nazi's, the genocide in Sudan and the Congo, when you have everyday examples of this behaviour in every day life.

When someone will turn on their family members in service to some sort of propoganda, you can see how simple it is to make them turn on their friends, their neighbours, their countrymen. I find the whole thing scary as fuck...people who think that shit can't happen here don't know fuck about people and pyschology.

[Ikonoklast]

13. It's ok. It really is.

My three liberal children and I all voting for Obama nullify everything he votes for.

Fear rules his life. How sad that must be.

[OakCliffDem]

14. The Supreme Court is on the line this election. It must to go back to being Liberal where it belongs

Obama must win this election to prevent the Republicans from further packing the Supreme Court with conservative pukes

[DrZeeLit]

15. It was on the tip of my tongue to say that to my brother, but he would never see the Supremes

as an issue. He's fine with them.

I know my brother is not religious and doesn't give a fig for the abortion issue. He's not on board the Repub Wagon for that.
In fact, I have no idea what he "believes" about the laws.


I completely agree. I talked to two professors in my department who were not going to vote. And I said, "I have one word for you: The Supreme Court."

[bobbolink]

17. That's exactly why I wouldn't gnash my teeth if McBush wins.

Some of these people need to experience it first-hand and find out what it feels like to need "assistance" in this ugly country.

I"m sorry you have to deal with this.

At least I can tune out that kind of hateful prejudice.