Feeling Blue in A Red State

I wrote this 4 years ago. Sadly, things in Georgia have gone from bad to worse. Now children in our neighborhood are being mocked and threatened for their parents political views. Truly tragic.

 

 

Last weekend the homes of all of the known Democrats in our neighborhood were vandalized.  If you had told me a week ago that I, a middle-aged white Christian woman, would be the victim of a hate crime I would have vehemently denied it.  Now I know differently. In this highly polarized campaign, no one is safe.

 

I told a friend that I was still reeling from the crime.  She said in surprise,” it wasn’t a crime.”  No?  Then what was it?  Three homes were attacked for expressing their political views publicly. 

 

I asked her if it would be different it had been Christmas and somebody defaced a manger scene.  She replied in shock, “No one would do that to the baby Jesus!”  Probably not.  The Muslim family across the street wouldn’t.  The Jewish couple next door definitely wouldn’t.  What gives certain members of Republican Party in Georgia the right to deface the property of others simply because they disagree with them politically?

 

Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy.  In fact it is so critical to democracy that the framers of the Constitution ensured our right to free speech by drafting the First Amendment.  Last weekend’s attacks were a shame. They were fundamentally un-American.  They were also a crime. 

 

I explained to my neighbor, that the crime is the same, regardless of the property involved. Trespassing, vandalism and destruction of personal property are all crimes. It doesn’t matter if it was a religious decoration or a political sign. Freedom of expression is what America is all about - but this freedom does not extend the wanton destruction of personal property. 

 

Another neighbor expressed regret over the attacks.  He told me secretly that he was also a Democrat, but didn’t want it known.  Not since the McCarthy era have people been afraid to admit they were members of a political party – and then it wasn’t the Democratic party.

 

I am saddened that this is what America has come to.  The media’s division of the country into “red” and “blue” states has made those of us who disagree with the majority in our state feel marginalized.  It has also given the majority an unreasoning sense of entitlement.  The attacks in our neighborhood were the result of an overconfident majority attempting to subordinate a perceived minority group.