Posted on 10/16/2013 1:12:43 PM PDT by IChing
Yes and no. Yes, as in, it is possible, and no, as in, it’s not normal in the soul sense.
Of course, one immediately thinks of famous, mysteriously married, bi-partisan power-couples such as top republican consultant Mary Matalin and top democrat strategist James Carville. They’ve been happily wedded for twenty years. Amazingly, they actually met (in 1991) while each was about to be hired to manage opposing presidential campaigns; Matalin for George H. W. Bush, and Carville for Bill Clinton. They claim publicly that they don’t talk politics at home. When they appear on TV together, it’s actually pretty amusing to observe their playful jousting over public issues.
Or, perhaps less applicably, we have the dynamic duo of RINO former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and media maven/Kennedy-clan Obama shill Maria Shriver, who may be headed to Splits-ville after all.
Then we come back to the reality of everyday life among us, the comparative so-called hoi polloi. The real hazards and occasional rewards of odd-couple, opposites-attracting, friendships and relationships are in evidence everywhere. We all have at least some experience with this.
In the way of caveats about fellowship with people who don’t share our faith, those of us who are religious can point to the Biblical admonition about being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14).
For that matter, when liberals and moderates try to insist that Islam can peacefully coexist with the non-Muslim world, we vigilant conservatives can easily point to the many passages in Islamic scriptures which forbid followers of Mohammed from taking friends among the “kuffar(non-Muslims).” We’re on solid ground, in terms of referencing Muslims’ own doctrine, which also says that it’s perfectly okay for Muslims to lie and pretend (“taqiyya” and “kitman”) to be friends with us, and give the appearance of cooperating, if it in actuality helps advance the overall goal of Islamic conquest of the globe.
But back to our more mundane daily lives.
Many of us have friendly workplace colleagues who differ with us drastically on major political topics, and for the sake of keeping things professional and amiable at work, we do our best to avoid getting too involved in sensitive political discussions and diatribes. That is, those of us who prefer to keep our jobs, and keep workplace aggravation to a minimum.
Then there are the various family members with whom we profoundly disagree, yet maintain all sorts of uneasy truces over inflammatory subjects in the news, tiptoeing gingerly around the political minefield while exchanging rote pleasantries and cordiality where necessary. Those can be the more touchy and explosive relationships that sometimes are better allowed to lie dormant indefinitely.
In this cyber-age of social media and online networking, almost everyone has reunited with old pals from our school and/or military days, with lost loves, former coworkers, estranged relatives, and so on. Plus there are the new online friends and acquaintances in our lists. As often as not, people we’ve never even met in person become fast friends through shared interests and discussion threads, mutual friends, political causes, or just liking their profile picture, initially.
Those venturing into the dating world, both online and off, know full well the vagaries posed by political differences which arise when getting to know, and attempting to develop relationships with, significant others.
It’s when things go bad that we step back and wonder if it’s even realistic to try to maintain certain associations, though.
Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombing, I had reconnected on Facebook with an old pal from my long ago drinking days in my youth, from whom I’d become estranged and had had no contact for many years. I made the mistake of immediately sending him one of my columns on ClashDaily.com, and he didn’t take too kindly to my efforts/sharing. His initial reaction?: ”Good lord, don’t start sending me Bill Ayres(sic) conspiracy type shit. I’m actually thinking of deleting FB account. I never use it.”
We argued, and had some choice words for each other. Here are his final words to me on Facebook: ”Seriously, Don, you’re a megalomaniac. And I don’ t care to hear your flatulence rising from the right wing fever swamps. To quote you from yesterday, why don’t you go f*** yourself. I’m blocking you.”
*Sigh*
To quote Rodney King(r.i.p.), “Can we all get along? Can we get along??”
Probably not; not always, anyway…but sometimes, we can–sometimes, for decades. I believe it’s a question of specific circumstances, complex chemistry, and spiritual forbearance. Either we work with what’s workable, or we don’t. It’s work, that’s for sure, and as with any kind of work, there are rewards.
Right, libs? ;-)
One word : academia
I have liberal acquaintances and co-workers, but no liberal friends. I have purposefully lost touch with old friends who are now America-hating commies. I don't care to know them.
Wiring (way we are created) and sin nature explain why women tend to be more liberal.
Wiring gives women a desire to be taken care of,
and the curse of sin for the woman was that she’d desire to be autonomous from man.
These two drives are in conflict, except when you replace the man with the State. This condition satisifies both desires.
I represent what most liberals hate. White, non-gay, married, Christian, male, retired military, with a job, and a great family)
There are some circles I don't discuss politics, I learned years ago, you can not explain facts to a liberal, they will not listen, nor will they understand.
So yes you can have liberal friends, I have some, but I keep my political opinion to myself, and discuss other things.
Last night I the opportunity to meet a future VA state delegate at a "meet and greet", I had a great time discussing politics with friends, it was very civil, although we didn't agree 100%, we were able to discuss differences with civility.
Sounds like s/he works in a government office with a bunch of minority women.
Good example, thanks for sharing it.
And your religious/philosophical background is . . . ? I’m guessing that you do not believe that a being such as the Devil exists.
Same with my wife, she had never really been exposed to a different point of view, now she jokes that I brainwashed her, lol
I could.....
But I won’t..
........................................................
Then there is this: Can Liberals have Conservative friends?
I lost my best old “Army Buddy” a week ago:
He is at the top of the GS pay scale without being a political appointee, and has been furloughed. He is worried about paying his mortgage, utilities and food.
He wanted to know my opinion about the ‘shutdown’. I told him that it should have been done a long time ago.
He wanted to know my opinion of increasing the debt ceiling.
I told him that it was too high already.
He isn’t talking to me anymore, despite the fact that I offered to send him enough money to see him through, and even a place at ‘the gulch’ if worse comes to worse.
I guess eating at the taxpayer trough is more important to many; even for pretty intelligent people, than 40 year old friendships and a ‘safe harbor’ when SHTF.
In the realm of personal relationships,the issue of moral character is of vital importance and significance because it is relevant to one's own survival. Emotions about others are a consequence of one's evaluation of another's moral character and values.If a person shares one's values and has a good moral character, that tends to cause a feeling of esteem and affection for that person that could result in friendship or love depending on how much intimacy one desires and how much value that person is to one's own life.
No. Having friends with severe mental illnesses is a drag. Being married to a woman with the same type of mental illness is just a recipe for misery. Just my opinion based upon ample experience.
Don’t know any worth a damn at this time. Male or female.
Another point about California politics is the impact of the gerrymandered state assembly and state senate districts. The ultra liberal state senators and assembly members get elected with 2 or 3 thousand votes. In the neighboring Republican districts the conservatives often get more than twice as many votes as the liberal, but the gerrymandering gives the liberals a super majority. It was illegal immigration that caused this. The House districts and state assembly/senate are based on population, including illegal aliens in the population. We are so screwed.
The place to start is with the abortion argument. If you can get a person to see that abortion truly is the taking of innocent life, then the rest becomes very easy to change.
The guy is a corporate lawyer for a pharmaceutical firm, comes from money, trust fund baby, and was actually sort of a P.J. O’Rourke wannabe when he attended college at Wooster; wrote a column himself for awhile, from a sardonic right-wing perspective, for the college paper. I don’t know exactly what happened, but a mutual friend says his ex-wife put him through such psychological torment that he is now a shell of his former self...
A liberal as a friend.? This is a language to betray us. If I want the company of a head in sand liberal for entertainment I will dial the escort service and get more trust there. A liberal is a prostitute acting like they are not.
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