Red States, Blue States

My wife had her class reunion this past weekend and a conversation with an old classmate of ours made me think.

Currently, we live in Indiana. We are planning soon to move to Colorado. This friend of ours said, incredulously, something to the effect of "You're moving from one red state to another red state?"...I should probably mention that she's probably even more liberal than either myself or my wife.

This was said as if it would be lunacy for a person to move to a state that didn't, traditionally, vote the same way he/she normally does.

I couldn't help but think how odd it is that we've reached a place in this country, in which we would willingly sequester ourselves from those that believe differently than we do.

When did some shame come from living among folks that don't already agree with you.

Is this any sort of plan for the Democratic party to win elections? Are we supposed to all move to states together so that we carry any election?

It seems to me that doing so limits a group's influence to whether or not they are a numeric majority...which Democrats are, but I won't get into that here.

The best I believe we can do is to live as Americans first, political beings second. Debate the issues with your coworkers, neighbors, and family (politely at all times, of course). Make good points. That is how you really educate others on the issues we hold dear.

You don't win the debate by refusing to participate or by surrounding yourself with people who already believe like you do (not to mention that you just end up with a skewed view of the world).

Let's go out there and talk about what is important. Let's hear the other side's arguments. Let's come to consensus (even if it turns out to be that we have differing ideals and values on some issues).

Let's move on as Americans not as red state-ers and blue state-ers.

Until next time...