Now the work

Now that someone has committed suicide at WTC Ground Zero in protest of last week's election results, I suppose that we can end the half-hearted joking about wrist-slitting and emigrating to Canada.

Lakshmi Chaudhry's despair/concern is typical:

James Carville says that if liberals like me want to win, we need to learn how to talk to white guys in pickup trucks who think my gay friends are a sin against nature. But what could I possibly say to someone for whom a ban on abortion is the single most important issue in their life? There's no point in trying to "speak my values," if the folks I'm talking to think those values are simply wrong

...
In the aftermath of the election, it feels like I've not just ceded my country, but also my self. I've become just one among the sea of anonymous losers whose concerns and issues are simply not relevant any more. In the space of a single night, I've become invisible.

So don't be invisible. Don't 'speak your values'--be your values.

Frankly, how else do you anticipate persuading anyone?

This view of popular vote by county reaffirms that Kerry's support correlates with population density; i.e., when you know people who are different than you, you learn that you needn't fear them. The white guys in pickup trucks don't know your gay friends, but they could get to know you. Once they come to trust your independent judgement, such that you can no longer be demonized, it may not be so clear what a "fag-loving baby killer" really looks like.