Why Conservatives Preach to the Choir
Why do so many of us Conservatives preach to the choir? In a world of social media, why is it that we choose to share our many articles, stories, polls, memes, etc. with mostly our Conservative friends? Well after my week, I believe I have a better understanding of why we do so.
I was cooped up for the past week having some electrical installed in my home. The man I hired to perform the work turned out to be a liberal. Yes, I spent the week stuck in my home…with a liberal.
I have often asked many of my Facebook friends why they don’t allow liberals on their friend’s list. The answers have varied and do make sense—mainly that liberals report your comments and get you banned. In fact, on my other Facebook account, I have been banned from posting not only on the White House page, but also on the PolitiChick’s page as well. I can’t post on anyone’s page per the Facebook police because of my constant bans from the White House page. Another concern is that it is a waste of time, as liberals will defend their own no matter what kind of facts you throw their way. It is hard to debate in a civil manner when facts are ignored. Liberals tend to change the subject when they are backed in a corner. They are also famous for calling names and yes, out comes the Race Card when all other means are exhausted. Some of us just can’t keep our cool. It “pisses” us off when liberals stubbornly defend policies that are proven failures, therefore putting their Party before the good of the Country. These are all excellent reasons for not allowing them to enter our discussions, but how will they ever learn?
Politichicks’ very own fearless leader Ann-Marie Murrell recently encountered this when she was asked to make an appearance on the Dr. Phil show. She struggled with it, not knowing if or how they would possibly be setting her up. We all are aware of the “gotcha” questions thrown at Sarah Palin during the 2008 elections. The Left-stream media is not so kind, especially when it comes to Conservative women. However, Ann-Marie graciously accepted the invitation and bravely allowed her voice to be heard. She left us with a message that I have personally taken to heart: Conservatives cannot always preach to the choir. How else will we reach the lost souls if all they ever hear is what the lame stream media spews out to them? You may think that it does no good or “you can’t argue with idiots”, but think about it. If all they ever hear is one side of the story, what harm will it do to give them the other side of the story? At least they will hear it. Some may even ponder it. How do I know? Well, as I wrote earlier, I just spent a week with Mr. Liberal.
When Mr. Liberal (ML) first showed up at my door, I was on my laptop reading the daily news. ML glanced over my shoulder as I was reading the latest on Texas gold-digger, Wendy Davis. It was then that he made a comment with a mention of the Tea Party. I’m not sure of his exact words as flames started coming out of my nostrils, but the gist was that the Tea party was waging war on this “innocent woman” and all the other women that wanted to murder babies for the sake of “choice”. Of course I am a huge defender of the Tea Party and am fully aware of the smears that they have been hit with from not only the left, but from the right too. Of course I don’t understand what is so horrible about a movement of patriotic Americans who simply adhere to the laws of our Country by holding the Constitution close to their hearts. So I asked him, “What is it about the Tea party that you don’t like?” His response, of course, was vague.
“I can’t remember,” Mr. Liberal said, “but there is something they said that I don’t agree with.”
Yes, that was his answer. Now you may ask why I continued to engage with this man and I asked myself the same question. However, I continued. I was not about to let this man get away that easily.
Over the next few days our conversations included Bridgegate, Benghazi, abortion, WMD‘s, social security, JFK, Reagan and even the Birthers. Each evening I sent Mr. Liberal home with an assignment. For example, when he brought up the war in Iraq saying that there were no WMD’s, I simply asked him to go home and do a quick Google search. The key words I gave him were: Clinton Iraq 1998 and Iraq Liberation Act. When he brought up the “birthers”, I told him to research Phillip Berg. Phillip Berg was the original “birther”, a Hillary supporter that introduced the birth certificate issue during the 2008 primaries in which Obama and Hillary were the top contenders for the Democrat’s nominee. Each day after his being given assignment, Mr. Liberal would come back with a different topic for us to debate. There was no more mention of the previous topic from the day before. My guess at the time was that he either ignored it, or he read it and was too proud to admit that he wasn’t informed. Regardless, he was very respectful and began to ask more questions every day.
On the very last day when the work was complete, I handed him his pay. He was in his truck about to drive away when I thanked him for his work and for his civil manner in which we debated. As I started to turn and walk away, he stopped me. He wanted to tell me that he had done the research and found that many of the things that he thought to be correct, were not so correct after all. He really just wanted me to know that. I took it graciously, not wanting to rub it in. (Okay, I wanted to rub it in, but I didn’t.) I let him drive off allowing him to save face, especially since he had the courage to acknowledge that he had been fooled by so many in his own party.
I want to believe that I made a big difference in what I taught this man—but also the real lesson lies with me. This man most likely will not change parties or attend a Tea Party event. Our debates may have made little to no difference at all. But one thing is for sure: if I had never taken the time to engage, he may never have found out the other side of the story.
How many, like this man, do we ignore by thinking that we are wasting our time just because they claim to be liberal?
Ann-Marie is right. We need to engage them. We need to step up and not allow the media to control the debate. That doesn’t mean we have to stop preaching to the choir, but we do need to be a little more courageous and engage a liberal if given the opportunity.
Let’s do the job that the mainstream media won’t. Let’s give them the truth.
