politico

let me preface this blog entry by saying that i'm not the most politically-informed person in america. i'm not even the second most politically-informed person. often, michael and i will be discussing politics/public policy/cultural theory/whatever and i'll suddenly find myself at a loss--it's not that i don't care about what we're discussing, i just have no solid information on which to base an argument.

then again, i only really read the baltimore sun's "today" and "food" and "arts and entertainment" sections. i listen to morning edition on NPR, but that's pretty much where it ends. so, that's my disclaimer.

michael just sent me a link for "buy blue," a campaign that seeks to tell consumers which companies have a good track record when it comes to supporting "liberal" causes and which ones are notorious for supporting the crazy right-wing agenda (ahem, wendy's). i'm all for spending my money in places that are going to respend it for causes i believe in--or at least not shopping at places who are trying to make sure that i can never get married or adopt children.

my problem with "buy blue" is that it's called "buy blue." i hate the delineation of "red state" versus "blue state" and everything that being a "red" or "blue" state implies. what scares me is that there's this ever-expanding rift between those on the right and those on the left. i feel like meeting in the middle is no longer an option--one either has to hate gay people or want to give them equal rights; one either has to be vehemently against abortion or in support of a woman's right to choose. there doesn't seem to be room anymore for a moderate conservative or a moderate liberal. my mother, for instance, used to consider herself a moderate conservative and "social" liberal, meaning that she's a rich white lady who wants to keep the money she earned but doesn't really hate black or gay people.

recently, though, she's subscribed to the national review and completely stopped listening to NPR because it's "too liberal." her only news source is this crazy-conservative magazine which she refuses to believe is at all skewed. if NPR is too liberal because it's critical of our government and openly supportive of equal rights for all citizens, i must be a fascist.

wait, do i mean fascist or socialist? see what i mean? i should never talk about politics.