We continue with our series A better human story, where Andy Schmookler, a Liberal, discusses his dinner with his ultra-conservative Republican friend.
Andy Schmookler speaks.
Dr. Andy Schmookler, a Liberal, invited his Republican neighbor to dinner. He decided to engage in a non-political context. He revealed his perception of our political divide.
Throughout our dialogue, Andy seemed to give many of the Conservatives somewhat of a pass in a different manner than I generally do. He described some of these people as good people irrespective of that, at times; they may know they are doing bad things. I differ in that I will give these “good” people a pass. But after they have been schooled, if they don’t see the error of their ways, they cannot be considered good people.
One should not be dissuaded from keeping up the effort to change “bad” people. In fact, that is what rehabilitation is all about. But make no mistake, informed Republicans and neo-liberals, or anyone for that matter that do bad things knowingly, are not good people. They can be rehabilitated. But they are bad until then. We cannot continue to coddle evil.
Check out the entire interview. It is well worth your while.