So, it’s been a week since the election, and having had time to calm down a bit and think about the world in a slightly more rational manner, I’ve come to the shameful realization that I’ve probably been guilty of making the same kinds of blanket judgments about "conservatives" that rankle me so when I see them made about "liberals" in the conservative press.

I do realize it’s not true that all the people who voted Republican in the last election did so because they’re homophobic or anti-choice. Though I’ve got more than a bit of the misanthropist in me, deep down I have to believe that people vote for the person whom they truly believe will help them, the United States, and the world.

Unfortunately, when "moral values" (and I already hate this phrase with a passion) are continually associated with conservatives, and "social justice" is made out to be the domain of liberals alone, it’s easy to forget that the vast majority of liberals and conservatives alike probably voted on the basis of both of these things. Most people who voted for George W. Bush no more want Americans dying without medical treatment at home or dying in wars overseas than I or any other liberal does. We (liberals and conservatives, that is) may have different ideas about how these issues should be addressed, we may believe there are different solutions to these problems, but I think we both recognize that they are problems, and I think we both want something to be done about them.

So it’s obviously not fair to portray all Republicans as closed-minded, self-centered xenophobes who all want to carry guns, eradicate references to evolution in school textbooks, and make sure that women, homosexuals and other minorities are denied as many rights as possible. There are plenty of those out there, I know, but I also know that to make a blanket judgment like that is no more accurate than it is to say all liberals are relativist, tree-hugging, terrorist-loving, baby-killing hippie peaceniks.

I know how difficult it is to avoid embracing stereotypes like this - particularly when you’re angry and it seems that everything you believe in with your whole heart has just been flatly rejected by the majority of your fellow countrypeople in favor of "values" that actively injure those who don’t subscribe to them. But as difficult as it is to look beyond the stereotypes, I think it’s vital to do so if people are going to have any sort of rational political discourse (and I have to believe that rational political discourse can be the basis for change, because if it’s not, then where does that leave us?). I’m so tired of hearing those on the right reduce my beliefs to the liberal stereotypes I mentioned above, but I’m also aware that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, so to take conservatives to task for name-calling without taking liberals (myself included) to task for the same thing is more than a bit hypocritical.

So this is really a note to myself and a plea to everyone on both sides of the left-right debate to recognize your political opponents as people with beliefs which are (generally) just as valid as, if radically different from, your own. Let’s bring some nuance into political discourse in America (and the rest of the world, for that matter). Let’s not succumb to the kind of indignant anger that just leads to intolerance and spite, no matter how justified our indignant anger may be.

Now, having said all this, I want to reiterate that my basic position on the election hasn’t changed. Just as Republicans may think me misguided for my bleeding heart, I think voting for George Bush was misguided because I really, truly do not believe that he has made, or will make, the world a better, safer, happier place for Americans or anyone else.

I also believe that there was probably a lot of ignorance involved in the Republican victory - and I don’t mean ignorance in the sense of people being stupid, I mean ignorance in the sense of people simply not being aware of the facts about the Bush administration, or the "war on terror", or the war in Iraq (the Program on International Policy Attitudes has some interesting studies related to the public’s misperception of, well, reality). In some cases this ignorance may be willful, but where it’s not willful, then it’s up to all of us - lefties and righties - to participate in disseminating the truth, rather than just lambasting those we feel haven’t done enough to become "enlightened".

So what all of this boils down to is that I’m going to try to practice what I preach: tolerance. Where people are being willfully ignorant, devious or malicious, I will rant and rave and not cut them any slack. When people deliberately twist the truth for their own purposes, I will probably call them names. But in general, I will really try to give people the benefit of the doubt, because human beings deserve that. I refuse to become bitter and hateful. I’m still mad as hell, and I’m terrified when I think about what the next four years might bring, but I won’t give in to the dark side.