I went to a top ten law school and went straight to Skadden Arps, the largest law firm in the world, when I graduated. I have two graduate degrees. I'm an anti-Vietnam McGovernite from way back and while I often have to wear a suit to work, my sentiments are firmly with the DFHs.
I've got a venti latte in my hand right now. And it's good.
I'm an agnostic, and while I respect religious freedom, I zealously wish that religion were as far away from governance as it could possibly get, and that all governance decisions were based firmly on rationality. As for guns, I would like to see all firearms banned, and it's as simple as that. Furthermore, I strongly suspect that many of my fellow Democrats join me in those views, especially those who work and live in San Francisco and the Bay Area, as do I.
The thing is, though, that all us closet whackos who are involved on the Democratic side of politics decided long, long ago, tacitly but virtually unanimously, that we'd damn well better keep those opinions to ourselves. And we damn sure don't want our Presidential candidates to go letting the cat out of the bag.
Yes, we're a bit on the hypocritical side that way, but we soften it by doing absolutely as little possible beyond the bare minimum politically necessary to highlight religion, gun rights, and flag-waving in our politics. But by doing it this way, we actually manage to
(1) win Presidential elections from time to time, and
(2) elect goodly numbers of congressfolk.
I've never been even slightly tempted toward the lunacy of declaring these views as Party principles. Sometimes you just have to grab a pitchfork and go help burn the witch, because if you don't you'll soon find that you're on the stake yourself.
So yes! We do indeed believe that the flyover folk go for their gay marriage acts and gun show laws and partial birth bans because something--and whatever that something might be varies according to the theory of the day--has deluded them away from seeing their real interests in elections and law-making. We do indeed believe that our understanding of who they should vote for is better than their own understanding.
We just have to be smart enough not to say it out loud. Because they suspect already, and even their suspicions make them burn with rage. We really can't make the mistake of up and admitting it--unless we fancy the political stake.
Yes it's cynical and more than a little dishonest, but the alternative is to let the other side win, and they're miles beyond any cynicism and dishonesty we could ever aspire to.
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