General Discussion

Yes, we have more empathy; and also, we and they have different definitions for a lot of the things we all claim to love. I'm not convinced that justice and freedom, for example, mean the same thing to Republicans, or at least to MAGA Republicans as they do to us.

To me, those things mean equal rights for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), sexuality, gender identity, etc., and the freedom for all of us to be who we really are. To MAGAs, "freedom" seems to mean being "free" to live like it's 1955, forcing everyone who's not like them back into the shadows. They seem to regard the very existence of gay or trans gender people to be an encroachment on their "freedom," and fight to deny them full human rights. Even books about LGBT related topics in a school or public library are regarded as an assault on their "freedom" to raise their children without any knowledge of such matters (in the mistaken belief that this will ensure that none of their children will ever identify as anything other than cis gendered and heterosexual). They demand their "freedom" to teach the Bible in public schools and hold public prayer in those schools, and on and on.

They are also very quick to accuse us of "hating this country" because we don't want to let them drag us all back to the 1950s. How can we work with that?

I'm not saying we can't possibly find a way to work together. I hope that is possible. But I see too much evidence that that are a lot of things we don't agree about to believe we can just say, "Hey, we all love freedom, so let's all work together for freedom!" That's not going to work without first making sure we all agree on exactly what "freedom" is and what it looks like.

I could go on for hours giving examples of words we don't define the same way Republicans do, but I don't have the time or the energy (and I'm sure nobody else has the time or energy to read it all if I did). I'm not sure how we can all get on the same page, but that seems like a necessary first step to me,