Recent national polling by the Associated Press-Ipsos reveals that nearly three to one Americans have little respect for the GOP-controlled Congress and want to see Democrats wrest control of the House of Representatives this fall. To make matters even worse for the GOP moderates, liberals and even disgruntled conservatives are motivated to turn out and vote this November. This news may astound you if you live in South Carolina, 'the buckle of the Bible belt,' a state so thoroughly steeped in conservative-Republican culture that as a progressive-liberal you are made to feel isolated and alone.

The effect this suffocatingly conservative and restrictive atmosphere has on your perspective is vividly illustrated by a personal anecdote. In December 2003, my husband and son and I vacationed in Venice Beach, California and toured Los Angeles. Every day there was a anti-war demonstration on the boardwalk in Venice Beach and everywhere you drove in L.A. there was anti-war graffiti including the now infamous 'No blood for Oil.' It was like being a parallel universe in which everything politically was the polar opposite of what you had been living or like living in a world where the political opposition was vocal and visible. What a concept.

Contrast that world with one in which just displaying a Democratic or liberal-minded bumper sticker is considered an act of bravery. My own Democratic bumper stickers have been ripped off, defaced and in a friend's case provoked an intentional act of violence. Shelia Jackson is perhaps the most militant liberal I know. She's also one of the kindest, most intelligent and laugh out loud funny woman I've ever known. Shelia was stopped at a traffic light in downtown Greer recently in her brand new car when the driver of an 18-wheeler intentionally rear-ended her car twice. One can assume that one of her many anti-Bush bumper stickers provoked the driver to ram her a couple of times then drive off. This incident got me to thinking about all those thousands and thousands of "W" bumper stickers I see every day and wonder how many times I had considered flipping the driver the bird or thought to myself "you dumb shit." The difference is I believe everyone does have the option to blindly believe in a bad leader without recourse or acts of retaliation.

Everyone is certainly entitled to his or her opinion in theory but the thing about the Deep South is that liberals are not permitted to express it freely.