Moving On

Tonight Emily and I went to a Moveon.org house party to watch a documentary about the Iraq War. The video was worthwhile but really didn't add any new information to my anti-Bush arsenal.

So I left the party wondering, what's the point? The documentary wasn't exactly unfiltered information and was basically preaching to the choir. For me, the video was just a damn good reason to get 40+ like-minded people (who don't know each other) in the same room and, if not mobilize, at least get energized.

I was able to connect with a professor from graduate school (whom I hadn't seen since I was in grad school) and I'm sure many other connections were made. And these connections and any momentum gained from the event made the whole party worthwhile. The movie was just a backdrop.

But this leads to another problem: rather than preach to the choir, how do you let the undecided or apathetic voters see your point of view without preaching to them? How do we open up the dialogue to everyone instead of just the liberal, urban elite that gather at these parties? Case in point: the Twin Cities had 14 parties. My hometown of San Antonio had two. And these two metro areas are relatively the same size.

We all gravitate to our comfort zones; it doesn't matter how conservative, liberal, or apathetic we are. We all tend to bunker down in our social circles and agree with one another, rather than consider an opposing view.

It's always been that way, I'm sure. But it seems that now, more than ever, this nation is becoming polarized and we're too busy shouting at one another from our bunkers on the right or left of center, and we're not listening to one another.

I don't know what the solution is, but I think the best thing Move On is doing for the country is pushing the left's point-of-view back into the mainstream. Whether or not this will help open the dialogue remains to be seen.