It is hard to be nice.

I try to be nice, but being nice is getting to be harder and harder.

If I disagree with liberal or progressing thinking, I am branded as disagreeable. If I disagree with President Obama, I am a racist for not giving him a chance. If I watch Fox News, I am a bigot. If I listen to Glenn Beck, I must be endorsing all hate speech. If I do not support same-sex marriage, I must hate all gay people. If I am against raising taxes, I am a tea-bagging, hate-filled, non-charitable excuse for a human being. If I am against killing babies about to be born, I hate all women. If I am against the new health care laws, then I support every conservative crack-pot who says or does the wrong thing. If I believe President Obama is a Socialist, I must be too angry, too partisan, too vocal, and too disrespectful of the Office of the President. If I do not support cap and tax legislation, I must want to ruin the earth and all the animals and people who live upon it. If I don’t support generous pensions to teachers, then I hate all children. If I want lower taxes and a balanced budget, then I must be a heartless, unfeeling, hateful rich guy who wants the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.

Only if I say what is politically correct and support social justice for all can I be redeemed from my un-nice, unenlightened state. Only if I make my money with a green job, drive a GM hybrid car, shower in a trickle of water, give all my money to the government, rid myself of all fur and leather, stop using plastic bags, and never wash my driveway with water from a hose, may I call myself a good-hearted, kind, non-hateful person. Only if I rid myself of every non-liberal opinion may I call myself nice.

Am I ever allowed to disagree in a nice, non-disagreeable way? I guess I better keep that answer to myself. Pete