those wacky conservatives.

is it just me, or are conservatives in this country becoming politically savvy and directed, and liberals becoming sort of... well, reactionary?
typically we use "reactionary" to mean ultra-conservative, people vehemently opposed to progress or new ideas. but the more basic meaning is "charactarized by reaction" -- ie, acting in response to things as opposed to acting independently from a set of principles and toward a particular goal.

for the record, i don't like W. i voted for Kerry. but i have to say that in many ways it seems like conservatives in this country are actually more likely to "live and let live" -- at least at a personal level -- than liberals are. the right seems more directed, less angry, less shrill, and more respectful than the left this time around.

yes, one can certainly view things like opposition to gay marriage as an encroachment of the liberties of others (ie, NOT live-and-let-live), but from the conservative's POV, it's not about control at all. almost no conservatives want to outlaw actual homosexuality -- i venture to say many or most are not opposed to civil unions -- what they're resisting is a perceived demand by the left that they (conservatives) sanction and approve a change in a fundamental social structure that they cannot agree with.

but back to liberal reactionism: for one thing, Kerry ran primarily on the platform of being Not George W Bush. IOW, as a reaction to W, not with a plan of his own.

for another thing, the emotion, the absoluteism, the bigotry i've perceived this time from the left is extraordinary. to hear my friends talk, you'd think the barbarians were at the gates. as tom wolfe said (paraphrased) in an interview with The Guardian, there's a suggestion that you must be "twisted or retarded" to support Bush. in other words, there is no case for the conservative position -- all is black and white, us vs them, good vs evil. what happened to the liberal exchange of ideas? of defeating wrong things by reasoned, respectful argument? at this rate we'll soon be intellectually and morally all of a piece, shouting names at each other rather than working for solutions.

or at least, that's how it seems to me.