Let's break down your post into manageable chunks and see if we can tackle them one at a time.
Congratulations on your 4 years of recent sobriety, and for sticking it out with attending meetings even though there are aspects of them that are rubbing you the wrong way. As with all things "AA", when dealing with a problem, the answers can often be found in the steps, traditions or promises, and ALWAYS found in the bible. Sometimes, they can be found in the common wisdom or platitudes you hear tossed around at meetings.
1) Lets start with these statements: "Disillusioned with AA" "Blue part of NJ" "people in the rooms are very liberal and very loud " "I know that politics isn't supposed to be a part of AA ".
The traditions say that "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity ". It sounds like the meeting is fragmenting because politics is interfering with the primary purpose of the meeting - recovery from Alcoholism. Answer this question in your own thinking - who is distracted from the primary goal - them or you? If politics has become a main focus of the meeting, then you need to find another meeting. On the other hand, if you are allowing yourself to be distracted from the primary goal of sobriety, you need to refocus and stop taking other people's inventory.
2) I'm sure you are familiar with the "people, places and things" that each individual in AA must avoid in order to maintain their sobriety. They are different for each individual. It just might be that politics is one of those things that needs to be managed very carefully in your life, because it sounds like a trigger to build resentments. We are all interested in politics here on FR, but in your case (and in the case of some other FOB's on FR), politics has to be designated as a second level interest. Sobriety and maintenance of your spiritual condition must come first.
3) Your conversation with your sponsor seems to indicate that after the "usual pleasantries" the conversation immediately went to politics. Remember that your sponsor is your partner in sobriety - an objective mirror of your condition, if you will. He is not your political debating partner, and politics should have no place in your relationship. Sounds like you guys need to get together and perhaps pray together that your AA relationship can get back to the true matter at hand.
The business of life is fraught with distractions and that is very dangerous to FOB's, particularly when you've got some sobriety time under your belt. There are things of importance that surpass politics, and the maintenance of your spiritual condition is way up at the top of the list.
If you can honestly say that politics is not interfering with your serenity then I'm sure you can just deal with things as they are. But frankly, based on your post, it sounds to me like you're getting a bit distracted. Try refocusing. Make amends with your sponsor for getting off-track. Maybe take a breather from FR altogether - because FR is primarly a one-sided venue and it tends towards grandstanding the conservative side of things (not that there's anything wrong with that). However, this type of environment/pep-rally is not the place to find serenity.
Peace be with you, thanks for listening.
The traditions say that "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity ". It sounds like the meeting is fragmenting because politics is interfering with the primary purpose of the meeting - recovery from Alcoholism. Answer this question in your own thinking - who is distracted from the primary goal - them or you? If politics has become a main focus of the meeting, then you need to find another meeting. On the other hand, if you are allowing yourself to be distracted from the primary goal of sobriety, you need to refocus and stop taking other people's inventory.
I may not have been clear enough in my posts. The meeting isn't fragmenting at all. They are all very much unified in their beliefs. The only other (non-liberal) person that I have met at that particular meeting is a guy that is a RINO (he just thinks that it is a matter of "waiting out a bad administration" and isn't overly concerned about much except hoping that his taxes aren't going to be too high).
Yes, I am the one that is distracted since I can no longer feel comfortable sitting in a room with them and "pretending" to be part of the group. And yes, the onus is on me to find a different meeting that I am more comfortable at, that is what I am doing.
2) I'm sure you are familiar with the "people, places and things" that each individual in AA must avoid in order to maintain their sobriety. They are different for each individual. It just might be that politics is one of those things that needs to be managed very carefully in your life, because it sounds like a trigger to build resentments. We are all interested in politics here on FR, but in your case (and in the case of some other FOB's on FR), politics has to be designated as a second level interest. Sobriety and maintenance of your spiritual condition must come first.
I appreciate your sound advice on this. (My wife has also been tireless in keeping this at the forefront of my mind as well!) When I finally "woke up" earlier this year, I went through a few stages. I started with an overwhelming sense of guilt for keeping my head in the sand bucket for decades, and the terrible fallout that is so drastically changing the future for our children and their children. Knowing that I had been part of the problem and not part of the solution was a very difficult nut for me to swallow. I also felt a great sense of despair and aloneness at that time. (And if you can imagine, it was very difficult to process as an AA member since it wasn't anything that I could work through with the help of my sponsor and network. THankfully I remembered FR and promptly joined, it has been a very big part of my ability to cope with "reality.")
After that, I moved into the "angry and hateful" stage, thankfully my "design for living" and my spiritual condition prevented me from acting rashly. Lately I have moved more into the "firm resolve" stage. I am determined to educate myself and those around me, be more active in Conservative political action, and work in more earnest to keep my side of the street clean.
3) Your conversation with your sponsor seems to indicate that after the "usual pleasantries" the conversation immediately went to politics. Remember that your sponsor is your partner in sobriety - an objective mirror of your condition, if you will. He is not your political debating partner, and politics should have no place in your relationship. Sounds like you guys need to get together and perhaps pray together that your AA relationship can get back to the true matter at hand.
I assume that you are commenting on the last conversation that I described in this thread starter. That was a long time in coming. I may have described some of this elsewhere, I can't remember at this point. I knew this guy for many years and had no clue as to what his "politics" were all about. I didn't care, and viewed that as part of a healthy sponsor-sponsee relationship. He started in with all this Bush-bashing in late 2007 and really ramped it up when the usurper came onto the scene. (He bought in heavily to all that "hope and change" garbage.) I told him several times that I didn't agree with any of that and didn't want it to be a part of the relationship. However, I have to assume that he "forgot" about that and always gleefully got caught up with the excitement of the rest of the koolaid drinkers and just kept it going and going. That is when I started the process of looking for another sponsor (which continues through this day) and began to realize that virtually everyone that I knew in AA was a koolaid drinker. That may be surprising to many, but if you saw how "blue" this area was, it wouldn't be shocking.
So, although I am always ready to see my part in things and act accordingly, I can't take the blame for bringing politics into that relationship. I tried my best to not let it interfere for as long as I could. What I do see as my part in this particular mess, is that I waited so long to act. This "problem" had been going on for almost 2 years at this point, I should have taken action sooner. In my own mind I always knew better than to ever allow politics, specific business items, or even too much "socializing" to creep into a sponsor-sponsee relationship, my mistake was thinking that it was more of a universal tenet. So yes, I know that I have to be willing to forgive my former sponsor for his mistakes in this aspect, and I do. However, I can never excuse that behavior and know better (now) that I do not ever have to tolerate it.
The business of life is fraught with distractions and that is very dangerous to FOB's, particularly when you've got some sobriety time under your belt. There are things of importance that surpass politics, and the maintenance of your spiritual condition is way up at the top of the list.
Yes, I fell into the "my life got better before I did" trap before I went out. The maintenance of my spiritual condition is at the TOP of my list daily. I couldn't agree with you more!
If you can honestly say that politics is not interfering with your serenity then I'm sure you can just deal with things as they are. But frankly, based on your post, it sounds to me like you're getting a bit distracted. Try refocusing. Make amends with your sponsor for getting off-track. Maybe take a breather from FR altogether - because FR is primarly a one-sided venue and it tends towards grandstanding the conservative side of things (not that there's anything wrong with that). However, this type of environment/pep-rally is not the place to find serenity.
As I noted above, I definitely went through a stage where my serenity was being interfered with big time! And at that point, even though being on FR probably got my blood boiling a bit more than I should have allowed it to, the benefits of making me feel a part of a larger community of like-minded and equally dedicated fellow patriots outweighed the negative aspects. Your point is well taken though (and appreciated!) and I have actually had to "wean" myself off of time spent on FR lately (why it is taking me so long to be courteous enough to reply to the many folks that cared enough to read my thread and respond!). I need to get back to work now, but wanted to spend the time to get through this thread before it became later than it has. I am glad that I have done this today though, or I wouldn't have come across your post!
Peace be with you, thanks for listening.
May it be with you as well, and THANK YOU for reading and responding!