Dilemma of liberal teen in rural Michigan

Dear Joe,

I am from a small town in Michigan and lately I have been facing some difficulties. As a liberal I do not agree with many people in my community and many of my peers on a lot of the issues in your book Deer Hunting With Jesus. Issues such as gun control, national defense, Social Security, and Medicare are discussed, and they are of great importance, but where I come from those issues are not as important as "moral" issues such as abortion or gay marriage. I have always found it interesting how people can get more upset over two women marrying than a local soldier being killed in Fallujah. I yearn for change.

I was watching CNN the day after Barack Obama's caucus victory in Iowa, and I found it ironic that a faith CD commercial was on during the break. I am a Christian, but I have not been able to understand my fellow Christians' views on a lot of issues. I am a supporter of Barack Obama as well as John Edwards. I would be willing to vote for any person as along as I agree with them on the majority of the issues. I would not care if the person I voted for is a Mormon, Black, White, Muslim, Hispanic, Atheist, Catholic, Asian, or even Born Again. (Well really if Jimmy Carter ran again I actually would not mind, but I am not so sure if any Evangelical can be like Jimmy).

I just wish more of my friends could just feel the same way as I do. I'm writing to ask you if you were a teenager today how would you deal with conservatives? At times they can be difficult to get along with. I know you do deal with many people that you do not agree with but I talk with so many people my own age that disagree with me and this deeply scares me. The Dems are supposed to be the party of youth and they would be lucky to muster one-third of the vote from my peers. How would you approach a situation such as mine and how can I defend my views without "morally offending" any of my peers? Any advice?

I greatly enjoyed your book and I hope you will write more in the upcoming years.

Mark
A Concerned New Voter in Michigan

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Dear Mark,

Well, in my humble opinion, I'd say it is more important that you develop your own personal political consciousness to its highest level than worry about finding agreement among your peers, or convincing them of anything. High school and college society is very self-referential, very concerned with peer group approval, which mainly has to do with underlying psychological themes of sexuality and mating. We are genetically programmed to do so at that stage in life. Want people to agree with us, etc.

Rather than concern myself with that, I'd spend some time developing my awareness of what is really going on politically, and how we got where we are today. In other words, the real facts. Reading Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States would be a great start, if you have not done so already.

If at your age you are already sitting around watching CNN, you are probably already a talented political junkie -- someone we need on the left. Just don't take anything you see on television too seriously. Remember that what you are watching is a "media production," and is not news. It's not really even informative, as to the truth about what goes on in politics or on the so-called "campaign trail," which is really a stage managed grapple for power between elites, whether those elites be Obama, Huckabee, or Romney. We are only choosing the pre-selected candidate whose job is to sell us on the fact that the system still works in the most bearable manner for the next four years.

I know that's not the kind of answer you necessarily wanted to hear, and that it might sound cynical to a younger man. But I don't believe in contriving answers to youth. It is a form of arrogance and condescension.

In the meantime, if I were you (and I damned sure wouldn't mind being your age again) I build my knowledge base, hone my sense of compassion, and build lifetime friendships with the kind of people I admire for their moral principles and courage.

Let's not consider this advice. Let's consider this a discussion. I don't like to give advice to young people, but if I had to it would be this:

For god sake don't mate with Republicans! It only improves their degraded gene pool and gives them more stamina. ;-)

In art and labor,

Joe