Digging your heels in is the right thing to do when you are right. Digging your heels in when it is the wrong thing to do is turning your back on reality.

How can you tell the difference? For one thing, if the majority of people don’t see the world through your eyes chances are you’re on the wrong track. When shunning science to the point where people’s lives are put at risk becomes the entry ticket to a particular tribe, something is very wrong. When a blind eye is turned to behavior that is discriminatory or hateful, that too, is very wrong.

We all yearn to belong and to be a part of something greater than ourselves. In one way or another, we strive to claim our space with like minded individuals. There is nothing wrong with that and in fact, it is a good thing. Our families, our groups, our community to be there for us in times of need and despair and to be there to share our joys and triumphs.

To be a part of a group is to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and to give back to the group with little or no expectations of receiving anything in return. To be a part of a healthy group is not about imposing your will on others.

What is happening now to our nation is profoundly tragic. Our community, on a charge led by many on the right, is being torn apart and ‘E Pluribus Unum’ has been reduced to a forgotten slogan.

Some on the right have lost their way. While that may be cause for celebration for some political adversaries, it is a sad time. The right- just like the left- have contributed mightily to the character of this country. Hospitals, charities built by conservative or religious Americans can be found all over the land and volunteerism by conservative or religious Americans have left a permanent and honorable mark on the tapestry of the nation. From schools to social services to endowed scholarships to neighborly helping hands good people- you neighbors- have helped make our nation a better place.

Rather than reclaiming a great history, some on the right are embracing all the ideas that are wrong for this nation. Their biggest mistake is not trusting the American people, that great body which has shown the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ has served us well.

When things go south, Americans have never been shy about showing their displeasure at the polls. That won’t change.

America, like the great document that is the Constitution, is living and breathing, growing and expanding- and when necessary, is self correcting.

Drop in Birth Rates, Rise of Single Voters Set Rightbloggers to Raving « Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

The day-to-day business of rightblogging - harrying Susan Rice, cheering on congressional Republicans, and so forth — is not very satisfying to us, nor (apparently, from their tedious writing on those subjects) to them.

So we were happy for them and for ourselves when some recent reports showed that U.S. birth rates have fallen to historic lows. This excited the brethren, as it touched on some of their favorite themes, such as contempt for the childless and the fear that unless America churns its childbirth up to Yours, Mine, and Ours levels, the nation cannot long survive.

We should note that rightbloggers have long been concerned with the U.S. birth rate, for a number of reasons. For one thing, they worry that if America doesn’t outbreed its enemies, democracy is in peril. “The Islamic world is reproducing at a rate far above replacement level,” as Robert Maynard wrote at Renew America in 2010, while “America is about in the middle with a birth rate barely above replacement level.” The reason: “While we in the west are mired in nihilism, multicultural relativism and self-doubt, radical Muslims have a fanatical devotion to spreading their cause.” Many lunatics and at least one GOP County Committee member have picked up the theme, though its premise is specious at best.

That goes for rightbloggers’ domestic enemies as well: In the years before the Obama boom, rightbloggers took to reassuring themselves that, since red state procreation rates were higher than blue state rates, a Republican electoral majority was all but assured for the foreseeable future.

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