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Jewish World Review March 4, 2011 / 28 Adar I, 5771 A Perfect Blendship By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | One of the pleasures of an earthly transition is that you can write nice things about a person while they are still around to read them. And so, I rise to praise my friend and favorite newspaper writer, What, you say? You are a conservative and he is among the most politically liberal people in journalism. Or, as someone asked me one night when they heard I was going to dinner with former Senator The point, though, is irrelevant, but it is indicative of our political discourse today. It is not a cliche to say, "Some of my best friends are liberal Democrats." I write a biweekly USA Today column with Why has our political discourse caused us to hate one another if we are of different parties or persuasions? Why must a member of another party or persuasion always be seen as being on "the other side"? The Taliban are on the other side. My fellow American is my fellow American, regardless of politics. There are many reasons for such divisions, none of them valid. I first "met" Frank when he called me about a column he was working on. I was completely taken aback. After providing him with the information he requested, I do what I often do when meeting someone for the first time. I asked him where he was from. "From
It turned out we both played clarinet as kids and both owned a KLH stereo, the stereo of choice for teenagers at the time. And we both loved the theater. He was an usher at We would subsequently meet, attend If you read his autobiography, "Ghost Light," you will understand more of Whether one thinks he might still hate the president if he got to know him is not the point. So many people see other people as labels and define them as such. Republican-Democrat-liberal-conservative-independent-religious-secular. None of these tell you anything about a person. What are we missing as Americans by dismissing people we may disagree with politically as unworthy of our friendship, or even citizenship in a country that has always been diverse in its opinions? In 1776, a considerable number of our ancestors wanted to remain British and denounced those who didn't as traitors.
When you get to know someone, including their failures, insecurities, family dynamics and fears, you come to appreciate them on a level far above the political chatter. Politics come and go; friends are forever. As I am proud to call
JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
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