Everyone's a pundit

In the October 14 issue of the WSJ, there was a great op-ed piece by Peggy Noonan. What I love about her piece is that she has so eloquently put into words what I have always thought: that there is a strange irony when it comes to Democrats - they can be so closed-minded when the liberal doctrince calls for an open-minded perspective.

I don't mean to hate on the Dems. Lord knows the Republicans have their problems, too. But I noticed it from the first time I humored my husband and debated politics. Out of one side of his mouth, he was talking about how we need to be open-minded and accepting of all people and all religions (I agree). And then, out of the other side of his mouth, he was lambasting the right-wing conservatives and cursing their view points. Wait a minute. What happened to wanting debate?

Noonan brought to light four examples of this same behavior: the first happened when students at Columbia stormed the stage where Minutemen were invited to speak, effectively shutting down that forum. Early in October, the father of a boy killed at Columbine shared his views on violence entering our schools, in light of the Amish shootings. He thought the reason was because God was taken out of the school system. CBS silenced him. At her concert, Barbara Streisand spouted politics between songs. When an audience member shouted "What is this, a fundraiser?" Streisand became enraged and cursed the man. And, finally, on "The View", Rosie went off on gun control. Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought up the other side of the argument, and Rosie went blank-faced and proceeded to "educate" Elizabeth.

Everyone is entitled to speak his or her mind, where ever they want to do it. However, I don't like it when people say they want to debate, but they don't - they want their vision imposed. And if they don't get it, they'll stoop to cursing, intimidating. Noonan says that what's missing from the left of America - and I'll go as far to say both sides of America - is grace. "The kind of grace that assumes disagreements are part of the fabric, but we can make the fabric hold together." I agree. Don't just say you want debate, when all you really want is an excuse to push an agenda.

And that's why I'm content to sit up high on my little fence and not get dirty in the muck down below.