From red, white and blue to red, blue and purple
Commentary by Betty Bell
By BETTY BELL
Betty Bell
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Before we morphed into the Red and Blue States we were the good old United States. But even then we, being the contentious species, didn?t let go of a subliminal division that seems benign now?the North vs. the South. You could tell which was which right-off, and I was in the fifth- or sixth-grade when I met my first ?other,? young Hunter Warren who transferred from Memphis to Henry Yates school where I had my desk. The teacher wrote his name on the blackboard and asked him to introduce himself, so we all knew what he meant when he said, ?Mah name is HuntaWahn.? Poor Warren didn?t have a clue about how to speak proper Mid-western twang and use all the alphabet. But we knew he couldn?t help it, what with the heat and humidity and swamps and alligators down there where he came from?we figured he was lucky his mom and dad moved to Omaha while he still had his whole life before him.
The disintegration into the Red-Blue mess in which we find ourselves today, does, cloud-like, have a silver lining: there?ll be no civil war when there isn?t one good place to draw a line in the sand.
Weird alliances have come about in our Red and Blue states. In Kansas, for instance, God-fearing but economically struggling Kansans are holding hands with big-time CEOs, a wonderfully chummy coalition gathered under the ?W? umbrella, ?W? standing for worthy, winsome, witty, wonderful and waver-not.
And the Blues, despite their own internal divisions on abortion, gays, labor unions, guns ... you name it?have formed a daisy chain under the ?W? umbrella, too, the ?W? that?s missing in the President?s résumé?wise.
But the big gun Reds and Blues don?t carry the weight in this election?the priceless Purples do, fence-people, hanging out in less than a handful of states get the big wads of wannabes money and effort, though that turns out to be another cloud with a silver lining: Reds and Blues aren?t subjected to try-to-top-this, down-and-dirty political ads ad nauseam.
Purple People this late in the game need to quit trying to decide the best guy for all of our problems. They should narrow it down to the one choice that makes all other choices irrelevant since the lesser choices will be determined by the big choice?which way we turn at the looming fork in the road, the right turn or the left one. You couldn?t ask for a cleaner choice. To vote Bush and turn right is to embrace the Bush Doctrine, the doctrine that?waver not? he?s preached all through his presidency: to ?spread freedom throughout the world.?
To vote Kerry and take the left turn is to reject the Bush Doctrine. To take the left road is to select to return to our roots, to our original way of spreading freedom?being a beacon that lets the world see the people beneath as people to envy, to emulate. Freedom can?t be imposed with a laser; freedom is revealed in the light.
From the basic choice we make on Nov. 2, the kind of nation we?ll be must follow. With this clear choice it?s hard to see how anyone can be Purple unless they?ve found a way to move to Garrison Keillor Land, to Lake Woebegone, that peaceful place tucked away in old-time America, the place where there are four churches on the four corners and all of the congregations get along. The place where the folks take pride in their public school and pay their teachers so well there?s always a long list looking to sign a contract. The place where congeniality and civility is so engrained that it?s a problem for their high school football team coach. Every time he gives a pre-game pep talk, he always has to end with ?And remember, boys, when you throw a good clean tackle, don?t apologize!?
To the mystical, or maybe it?s mythical, Purple pilgrim?if you happen to be in the Woebegone drug store sipping a soda, and Jake comes in from the back 40 and tells you he heard-tell how the election turned out, I hope it makes you happy. I?ll be happy if it goes my way, but if it doesn?t, in a deep-powder instant I?d swap my stake in Woebehere and try to find a way to join you there in Woebegone.
