I was talking to a dear friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, and he asked me what I had been up to.  "This voting machine security thing" I told him.  "It looks really bad.  I can't believe how insecure these systems are and how easy they would be to Hack."

He chuckled and said to me, very sincerely, "Well, just as long as they go Republican, right?  Heh, heh."

There was an awkward moment of silence as I processed that.  This is no raving Neo-Conservative here - he probably couldn't pick Karl Rove out of an Evil Genius Lineup.

"Suspect number three, please move to the right - the FAR right - and say 'Mwah-ha-ha'." 

This is a guy I've known for almost 15 years, a college buddy and fraternity brother who I have leaned against on many drunken and interesting nights, and is one of the very few people in the world I trust explicitly.  I took a few seconds to let what he said sink in, and then I warily replied, "Actually, that's kind of the problem.  So far, all the vote fraud analysis that's been done indicates that it benefited us 100% of the time." 

He replied, "Yeah?  Huh.  Go figure.  Hey, can you make it to the Tampa Bay / Panthers game next weekend?  Kevin's coming up from Florida, and we're tailgating!"

How I met this guy was in college. We were both in a fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi.  Now, the reason that I mention Pi Kappa Phi is because it is unique among fraternities in that we have our own Philanthropy called PUSHAmerica.  PUSH stood for People Understanding the Severely Handicapped, and one thing that we used to do is build Handicapped-Accessible Playgrounds for kids.  Another thing we did was go through something called “Empathy Training”, which usually involved going completely blindfolded for a day, or taping several fingers together to simulate motor skills difficulty, or spending a weekend in a wheelchair.  For a young man it was a real eye-opener, trying to live “a day in the life”.  As a result of this “Empathy Training”, all of a sudden those old Helen Keller jokes weren’t so funny anymore.

That really helped me see through the eyes of others eyes. As anyone who has set through one of those uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinners with your conservative brother and liberal sister calling each other dicks and throwing mashed potatoes knows, we could all use a little perspective in what the other side is seeing.

To facilitate communications between the parties, I wrote two articles and posted them to my website.  I felt I had the perspective to do so because I have been a conservative all my life and have  gained new insight on the liberal mindset with this e-voting work, since Republicans don't seem to be very interested in fixing the problem.  If we're ever going to accomplish anything, we need to stop demonizing each other and work toward real solutions.

The first article is Empathy Training for Compassionate Conservatives: Why the Democrats Are Still Whining About the Election. The second article is Empathy Training for Liberals: A Primer on the Conservative Mind, From the Inside of One.

One thing I'm trying to do with both of these articles is re-frame the problem here.  It wouldn't matter if George Bush bit the head off a basset hound puppy in front of the UN, the conservatives are not going to fight to put Kerry in office.  And let's face it Democrats have their problems, too.

-sign waivers, PETA, trashing SUV's

Now before you start chanting and waiving your signs at me. I know we have our psychos, too.

-Ann Coulter, abortion doctor killers

But just like I realize that most of you aren't going to set minks loose so they can starve to death in the woods, you need to realize that most of us aren't fascists looking to sell our country to corporations. Most of us on both sides really are decent people. Unfortunately, extremists on both sides have pitted the centers against each other and while we're busy fighting they're making off with the country.

The fringes have packaged America into two easy to market red and blue categories. But who said if you're for limited government you're against a woman's right to choose? Who said if you want universal healthcare you are for an assault weapon ban? Only the weak minded see the world this way. America is more than 2 opinions, and Republicans and Democrats have more to offer than party lines.

We need to get the decent people together from both sides so we can take our country back from the indecent people in charge.

My coming here today is an Olive Branch from the decent people in the Republican Party, and I look forward to working with you and other decent people to bring the power back to the people where it belongs.

Thank you.