The Left hates us — I’m happy to return their contempt
The LA Times: What do we do about the Trumpites next door?
Oh, heck no. The Trumpites next door to our pandemic getaway, who seem as devoted to the ex-president as you can get without being Q fans, just plowed our driveway without being asked and did a great job.
How am I going to resist demands for unity in the face of this act of aggressive niceness?
Of course, on some level, I realize I owe them thanks — and, man, it really looks like the guy back-dragged the driveway like a pro — but how much thanks?
These neighbors are staunch partisans of blue lives, and there aren't a lot of anything other than white lives in neighborhood.
This is also kind of weird. Back in the city, people don’t sweep other people’s walkways for nothing.
[Because people in real, authentic neighborhoods help each other without demanding political solidarity, or even — here’s a shock — considering racial or gender/sexual preference, or economic status; we’re not your Brooklyn Heights, dear, though I’m happy to impose your own standards on Great White Invaders like you]
When someone helps you when you’re down, or snowed in, it’s almost impossible to regard them as a blight on the world. In fact, you’re more likely to be overwhelmed with gratitude and convinced of the person’s inherent goodness.
[Omitted obligatory paragraphs about Nazis here — Ed.]
What do we do about the Trumpites around us? Like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who spoke eloquently this week about her terrifying experience during the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Americans are expected to forgive and forget before we’ve even stitched up our wounds. Or gotten our vaccines against the pandemic that former President Trump utterly failed to mitigate.
My neighbors supported a man who showed near-murderous contempt for the majority of Americans. They kept him in business with their support.
But the plowing.
On Jan. 6, after the insurrection, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) issued an aw-shucks plea for all Americans to love their neighbors. The United States, he said, “isn’t Hatfields and McCoys, this blood feud forever.” And, he added, “You can’t hate someone who shovels your driveway.”
At the time, I seethed; the Capitol had just been desecrated. But maybe my neighbor heard Sasse and was determined to make a bid for reconciliation.
So here’s my response to my plowed driveway, for now. Politely, but not profusely, I’ll acknowledge the Sassian move. With a wave and a thanks, a minimal start on building back trust. I’m not ready to knock on the door with a covered dish yet.
I also can’t give my neighbors absolution; it’s not mine to give. Free driveway work, as nice as it is, is just not the same currency as justice and truth. To pretend it is would be to lie, and they probably aren’t looking for absolution anyway.
But I can offer a standing invitation to make amends. Not with a snowplow but by recognizing the truth about the Trump administration and, more important, by working for justice for all those whom the administration harmed. Only when we work shoulder to shoulder to repair the damage of the last four years will we even begin to dig out of this storm.
Rich, white, privileged liberal flees her urban home for the sanctuary of her mountain resort, but despises the people there. Well, honey, we return the feeling. You demand that we acknowledge our sins before you’ll readmit us into your society. We won’t do that, and don’t want your company; in fact, you’re the perfect target for a service boycott; change your own damn tire.*
UPDATE: A commentator at Instapundit has picked up this story. More effective writing can be found there. (Though I prefer my venom)
* Reference to a kinder, gentler time 50 years ago, when Merle Haggard could write “Okie from Muskogee”, and a long-hair from San Francisco could pen a loving response. Here’s that writer, Nick Gravenites (Big Brother and the Holding Company), and Kris Kristofferson, and Merle himself, singing away. Different times.
