Try being a vegan Republican who dates a black woman. Nobody knows what to do with me.
In my personal experience, it truly matters how far off the deep end any of my Democrat friends have gone. There are four of us that have been friends for over 25 years. Two of us are Republicans, one is a staunch Democrat and one is ALWAYS "undecided." She just never knows what to do or think. And no, we aren't able to persuade her one way or the other, either. She's a great Texas Hold "em player, LOL!
When we talk politics, we always agree to disagree and all of us can hold our own in an argument with lots of facts and figures...but we never, ever get to the point where any of us personally slanders the others for their opinion. We just stop the discussion before it turns ugly and turn the conversation to cute shoes or chocolate. ;)
Friendship is a lot like marriage in that way (and vice versa.) I mean, my husband has done and said some really boneheaded things over the years, but it would never occur to me to slander him to others. And he, too, leans to the left...but he listens at least, and lets me do my thing...have political planning meetings at the house, fill the yard and my car with campaign signs, etc. I guess it never occurs to him to "slander" me for my views, either, so it works for us.
Anyway, my empathy is sent!
DOE
I've definitely drifted further apart from old friends who are liberal. Quite sad, their hostility. I made my mind up several years ago to stop dating liberals. My boyfriend is very republican, but I don't know if he's quite the extremist I am :)
Then there's my uncle who lives way out of town. Visited him the day after the election. He was depressed, but more subdued than he had been in the lead-up to the election. He made a comment about finally understanding "how the German people could have voted for Hitler", but then, at least, had the good grace to let the subject drop.
Then there's my Wednesday night group. One of the old crew no longer shows up because he can't stand to associate with Republicans. A second, a rabid Bush-hater, shows up only rarely these days, and only then if he feels up to not talking politics (something he has a hard time doing). Strangely, those that remain are a mixed group in which political discussions are rare.
The one thing all of the above have in common: An obsessive hatred of Bush (and Republicans) that overwhelms everything else in their life. Very sad, but there is nothing that can be done about it.
Give them this. What the hey..it's worth a try.
Love Letter to a Liberal
As a new member of the “hard right” I feel compelled to convey to you, my dear liberal, the journey that has brought me to this place. There is a bitter animosity among many liberals today toward those that would believe as I do. As many conservatives will tell you, there is no point in hating liberals. They are as much a part of us as they are a part of the American fabric. It was once said that most conservatives start out as liberals in their youth. So how do we get to the other side of such opposing views?
For this writer, it took many years of seeing the world outside my parent’s protection to arrive at my current beliefs. In my younger years as a lower middle class American, I believed in the total goodness of mankind. I knew nothing of hate, racism, wars or politics. I was taught at home and in my schools to love everyone regardless of nationality, gender or religion. Those days where full of hope and possibility. I was once certain in my heart that the world we live in is full of people that only want to live and let live. My thoughts were that those who did not take my views need only to be given a touch of that all-powerful love and they would see how things could really be. It was devastating to find out that there where those that truly hated beyond any reasoning and that no amount of kindness or love would dilute their way of thinking.
As if it wasn’t enough to learn of real hate and wars, I learned that there are political leaders that use those wars to bring themselves to power. I became keen to maneuver through this political trickery. I learned that the worst politicians where those that preyed on the innocents. They tell opponents of hate what they want to hear, that war is very seldom necessary and blame it on the greed of their political opponent. They defy the facts of struggle after struggle, war after war throughout our human history in order to find favor in the American heart. I learned about those amoral, power hungry brokers that seek to widen the divisions in our country, using well chosen words that “sound” eloquent and intelligent to pit race against race, gender against gender, rich against poor to increase their own support in their quest for power. My eyes where opened and I knew there must be others that thought as I did. So I sought them out and found that they were called Republicans. I joined the just cause to bring back those things that I valued most, the ideas of my youth, that where taken from me by the real nature of this world. There was still hope.
Then, on September 11th, just when I thought I had seen every species of hate that the world had to offer; I learned of the islamic extremists. Without any room for doubt, they made their goals be known. Their calling in life was to promote their higher power by erasing us from the face of the earth because we are what they call the “infidels”, the ones that dare to tell them that we do not agree with their spiritual beliefs. They teach their children in their so-called schools that we are less than dogs, sub human. Without remorse, they attack the innocents. They applaud the effort to deliberately murder women and children in the most gruesome way possible to further their cause of fear and intolerance.
There is only one party that can help us to survive in this newest world of hate and insanity. It should not be surprising that the US has taken a “hard right” Republican shift and I suspect that the rest of the free world will follow in the next few years as the newest threats gather.
I long for the liberal days of my youth when everything was brightness and light, before I learned about the hate, before that one bright morning when the reality of the madness of the world came crashing in.
Liberal, I support you in your journey to find the sad truth. The reality is that the world is not what any of us want it to be. Unless those that would kill the liberal-at-heart are removed from power, the world will not ever be what we all want it to be. I am one of those people who will forever dream of peace on earth, but dare to see things for what they are today For you that have not found it acceptable to face these unbearable truths, there will always be those of us on the right who are willing to protect you from the hate and madness of these killers, even if you despise us for doing so. For those who can see that the dreams of our youth are still so very far away and that more work needs to be done to bring back the hope, won’t you please join us in this fight for our freedom?
Sincerely, One Conservative
Friendship is more important.
Send her a gift with a bottle of "W" ketchup and a roll of Kerry toilet paper!
Thank God MOST of my friends are on the same page as me!! Whew!! And family too. I guess I'm blessed....
I have 3 liberal acquaintances that explain my relationships the best.
One no longer talks to me because I would not allow him to malign our troops, our reasons & involvement in Iraq, etc.
Second just hasn't spoken with me since just before & after the election. I think it is let down; she will recover.
The third thinks she is a liberal, but is apathetic for the most part. I usually challenge her when she parrots the liberal line. But, she hasn't stopped talking to me. Our differences are just that, differences. But, she never, ever says degrading things about our military or actions in front of me. She knows that is off limits.
Here's a big lesson. If you have friends you want to keep, never discuss religion or politics with them if you know you can't change their minds. It's not worth losing the friendship over.
I have told my Wife that I refuse to argue and/or debate politics with her parents. Even though they're flaming leftists and try to goat me into it, I won't bite: "I don't want the conversation to end with them calling me, "Hitler" or, "Nazi," like others who decide to take me on usually end up doing."
All other lefties, open season.
Sorry for your loss, several years ago I experienced several – less intense, and less immediate – similar experiences. It was not a strong break; more of a drifting apart, it was still painful. These were fairly close friends, and we did not have overtly political arguments, but as I became more conservative, and we did not, we drifted apart – or, more accurately, they drifted away.
Back in the early 1960's I had a neighbor who was a reporter for the local (big city) liberal newspaper. We played bridge weekly and I continually discussed politics with him. Several years later he moved to the now-deceased conservative newspaper and was to the right of me.
We lost touch over the intervening years but I now see him writing Letters to the Editor to the liberal rag and it seems that he has reverted.
I need to get back in touch and retrieve him.
I don't know how old you are, but many of us approach certain ages by limiting who we associate with.
At age 50 I began the process of eliminating the idiots, whining losers, time wasters and liberals from my life, (often all 4 undesireable traits came from the same individual!).
By the age of 60, I had fined tuned the skills to avoid new friendships and even encounters with these losers in life. Then, a near death experience followed by the birth of my first grandchild made me even more skilled at weeding out the losers in life, who wasted my time and sometimes tried to insult me while pretending to be friends.
Now at the age of 66, those skills are well tuned and my esp skills at identifying losers before I waste time with them have improved. Whining losers are needed nor wanted in my life.
Trolls on Free Republic and whining losers are not welcome in my life. Eliminating them is like not allowing the MSM into your life. You have nothing to lose and sanity/happiness to gain.
I parted company with some individuals I had known for years during the Clinton Regime.
No harsh words were exchanged. I just had no desire to be around them any longer.
I have no friends that are socialists.
I have no desire to talk to a liberal.
They believe their way, I believe my way.
They feel their way, I feel my way.
My wife, from Russia, is a naturalized citizen who has cast her two Presidential votes in a "W" fashion. As a small business owner, and seeing terror for what it is, she could make no other choice...
"No Russian leader would go over and visit troops in a war zone on a holiday...", she says.
Our son was baptized in the local Russian Orthodox Church, (I had no objection - even with my Protestant background - Christian is Christian) The God-Parents were a Russian Couple who my wife had become friendly with - neighbors a couple of block away. We don't discuss politics.
I think the main problem is that they read the "LA Times" thouroughly. News through left tinted glasses. Nonetheless we avoid politics...
Sorry to hear. I reconnected with a few friends from high school and lost all but 2 because of politics. One friend in particular was in a very dangerous lifestyle and it had shocked me how low he had gotten so I decided just a few days after talking online again to tell him politely that it was nice to talk to him again, but we would not be able to maintain a friendship. Things had just changed way too much.
I am so grateful to God, I've never endured this with my best friend since middle school. We are both Lutheran and conservative into our 30's now. I guess it pays to meet people in church;-)
Anyway, mlmr, people don't like change. It is no wonder your friend is resistant. It is very threatening to her beliefs I suppose that someone who was "like her" has gone to the "darkside".