Prometheus 6   

Liberal dialogue, for all the 'touchy-feely', tends to be very result and outcome based. External. Conservative dialogue, for all the 'ruggedness', tends to be inherently emotional and internal. None of us are even talking about the same things. But in liberal terms, many fellow citizens are in dire inner poverty.

Living in fear. In terror. Someone has told them that their sole means of protection will be pried out of their hands. Their children corrupted and ruined. They're afraid that when all is said and done there won't be enough left over for them, and that no matter how hard they try, they will never get anywhere in life. They may even live in fear that they might be exposed for their petty sins, having listened for too long to people who pretend that it's possible not to have any.

They're as afraid as anyone that their livelihoods may be taken away, but they aren't always looking at the same culprits.

That poverty is what's holding us back as a country from achieving our full potential. That poverty is what holds us back from lifting people out of dire economic straits. That poverty condemns us to dishonest debates founded on unworkable ideology, stymied by people talking past each other.

Is there a way to heal this rift in our dialogue? To make our 'we' bigger right here at home, so that it includes people we might like to forget about? Or maybe most importantly, a way to start talking about common needs in language that reaches everyone.

'We' had better think pretty hard about this.