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As I'm blocking, not political discourse but people who lack the ability to have a reasoned conversation, I can't help but notice where it says who the person is "friends with." I'm friends with people with whom I disagree on policy issues, but not on human rights issues. We may have opposing views on finance and government spending, but not on human decency and respect. I wonder how one can be friends with someone full of that much venom and vitriol, who continues to repeat the same old untruths and exhibits that much patronizing superiority. I can't un-friend or block my parents, but I did un-follow them and limit my conversations to safe subjects like the weather and PBS British comedy shows. They have become minions. It will take a proper reversal of the brain chemistry changes brought on by high-level exposure to Fox News in the last two decades to open a mutually enlightening political dialogue between us. I am the lone liberal lavender sheep in my immediate family. Let's just say I believe Thomas Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again," but I'll add, "because it was never home to begin with." And to the men and women who now feel emboldened by the political climate of the day, I need you to know who I am before you comment here. The canned rebuttals are tired. Listen to what I’m saying before you decide I’m a “fat,� “nasty,� “libtard,� “c**t.� I am a fat, strong, independent, warrior, nasty woman, liberal if that’s what you meant. I will own that. What I’m not is ignorant. What I am is a student of politics and history. What I am is informed. What I know is we need opposing views and balanced policy to work for compromise that benefits us all. What I do is mourn the loss of reading comprehension beyond a sound bite or click-bait headline. What I want is a world where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness doesn't come with a price tag only some can afford to pay. Politically, I voted against the platform of the Republican President-elect, which promises to raise taxes on the poor and the middle class, strip millions of vital health care, deregulate wall street, and unleash the fossil fuel and coal industries on land and sea to do as they please, all in the name of cranking up the military industrial complex. And then there are the proposed changes to the laws regarding basic human rights of all Americans. These are facts, not campaign rhetoric. There has been no room for compromise with this current Republican legislature. I don't see any indication that will change with the new administration's goals as listed in their first 100 day plan. There is no middle ground, and that is where we must meet. Dividing us even more into the haves and have-nots is detrimental to our democracy. History has proven these types of policy changes will look shiny and new for a while and then the bill will come due. “Let them eat cake,� is not a healthy political strategy.

If we can't talk about these issues in a civil manner, then why waste time stopping by my social media spaces to insult Secretary Clinton and President Obama like a petulant child? Is that all you got? Have the alt-right writers neglected to provide a new script? I don't need to reach across the aisle to you. You obviously aren't interested in the free exchange of ideas. You are a minion. You are one of the expendables, and you're voting yourself into that status. The air is thick with your assumed impunity, while your mind is completely at the mercy of the information you are fed. You dream of being heroes in the revolution. Look around you. You aren't in the underground anymore. Your secret desires of social dominion over those who view the world differently are now normalized. You can drop the pretense of acceptance and tolerance. You can hate with gusto in the light of day, show everyone who you truly are. It must be freeing. Soldier on. Smile for the camera. Immortalize your hatred for history to see. Enjoy the time before the bill comes due for you too. #ReadForEnlightenment #StrongerTogether #WhatPriceFreedom