1.) The more you profit from a certain system, the less likely it is that you’ll want it changed. You will also not tolerate talk about changing it from people who obviously don’t have the same interests as you. This is fairly universal.

2.) Republicans and conservatives and people who support our government’s efforts do not have ice water running through their veins. Most likely, they’re your friends and family, who, for some reason I’m particularly unable to discern, think that “The Way Things Are” is either okay, or should go further in a direction than you do not necessarily agree with.

3.) You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it: just because you hold liberal views on something doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re more educated about the issues than your conservative colleagues/friends/family. They too have the special little books and articles and witty columnists that they quote. Be bold and daring and endeavor to read something you do not necessarily agree with… if only for the fact that so few of us actually do it. Not asking for you to change your mind about your politics, just bone up on what makes people you know come to different conclusions than you do. Read thine enemy. And know that we have seen the enemy and he is us. In every sense of the phrase.

4.) One thing that seems fairly universal amongst all humans, and not just the ones in this country, is the dichotomy of wanting to be “left alone” versus wanting to scapegoat someone for their troubles. The key to evolving to a higher state of mind and a higher grasp of reality is to understand and accept that we will never be “left alone”, and that we scapegoat just as much as “they” scapegoat.

5.) No matter how you live, the mere fact of your existence is going to piss someone off. You don’t lose points for caring about this, because some of the people who dislike your existence will have the power to end it, be it people you trust and love, or complete strangers. Be it the government you support, or the government you protest.

6.) One of the first things one learns in nature as a wild creature is that in order to eat, you must steal. If you’re an herbivore, you’ll be ending the lives of grass and tree limbs and truffles that did nothing to you. If you’re a carnivore, you have to accept that you’re ending the lives of cute woodland creatures who aren’t as strong and as fast as you, and that you could end up the snack of something bigger and stronger than yourself. You can’t wait around for the Edenic utopian vision of just being handed something by your government, by your parents, by your masters, by your bosses… you have to take it… your rights, your privileges, your freedoms. But you also have to have an intimate understanding of how your “rights” and “freedoms” will infringe on others, and you have to assess whether or not you care, and whether or not you should care. “First rule of the universe: Everybody hungry!” - Baron Samedi, The Invisibles

7.) The only thing that separates us from the chaff is how smart we are. How educated, be it formally or informally. A lemur couldn’t survive a crocodile, but a lemur has more brain cells and knows to stay in the tree limbs, away from the thing that could eat it. A smart person also knows not to make enemies unnecessarily, and that’s what we do when we demonize people for their worldviews without even making the slightest effort to hear what they have to say. I would be all for listening to why someone might want to kill me personally… they might have an insight into me that I do not, a point of view that I would never be able to hear in regular life. However, being that I am a sentient creature, I would avoid getting killed by this person at all costs… and there’s nothing wrong with that.