Invasion of the body snatchers

I think it’s really hard for people in “red” America to understand what it’s like to be a conservative right now in a place like Washington, D.C. Sure, you can find the east coast urban leftist line on the election by visiting certain websites or even watching cable news. But that won’t give you a feel for how many intelligent and, in some cases, good people are spewing that leftist line in its most vulgar form. There really is an “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” quality to my daily life.
One of my favorite lines goes something like this — “these people in Ohio don’t have jobs and all they’re worried about is gay marriage.” (You’ve all heard about the problem of rampant unemployment among evangelicals, haven’t you?) This concept was reinforced today when the Washington Post ran a piece about a family in Ohio whose income has dipped from $55,000 a year to $35,000 since George Bush became president, but ardently supports the president because he shares their values. Liberals around here can only shake their head when they read about this. Yet some of these same liberals have seen their incomes rise by several hundred thousand dollars since Bush took office, yet oppose him because, in essence, he doesn’t share their values. I say, good for them and good for that family in Ohio.
My other favorite line is “these ‘values’ voters support Bush because of gay marriage, but what about the values of peace and not having our soldiers die in Iraq?” To me this line, not unlike some of what Kerry said on the subject, captures modern American liberalism — treat a foreign policy disagreement as a moral issue, and treat religious-based disputes as if they are devoid of moral content. There’s a recipe for political success, as we have seen.