Like “Have you met my divorce attorney?”
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Since everybody I know in meatspace still relies upon a representative system which they claim to not trust, I feel that I am instead needing to accept their abdication of making political choices.
Hardly anybody near me is willing to discuss anything political with me since I articulate views which are too far outside of their comfort zone. The responses usually range somewhere between “That’s just crazy” to “I am going to contact ‘The Authorities’.”
It gets difficult with family who cannot for whatever reason turn their back on me. Explaining to them that we do need to decide upon actual policy, or come to agreement upon the jurisdiction of The State with regards to our group can get quite awkward. Most people seem to feel that accepting and assuming personal responsibility for political and social conditions is terrifying and dangerous - yet there are always professional “others” who can be expected to do this without such difficulties, presumably because they have super powers of some kind…
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I still love the parts of my family that are voting Trump, but I am saddened to say that I do not respect them. Whether that means I’ve accepted their choices I’m not sure. I’ve accepted that they became a single issue voter and picked their guns over actual political discourse and civility, but I was certainly disappointed in their choice to support him and the awful people that he welcomes the support of. I’m not saying my family is racist and sexist, but they stand on the side of people who are. That’s hard to accept.
It would take an awful lot for them to ever gain that respect back.
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Ah, that’s perhaps the toughest situation. Sympathies.
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But, there is more than one race on the ballot. Local and state-wide races are important too!
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The problem with compartmentalizing politics is that a person’s political opinions are often an expression of their character, and of how they view you, personally.
In the first case, it’s not hard to see that many of the people who gravitate toward Donald Trump or Christian fundamentalism are bullies who find in right wing ideology a “legitimate” way to shove around people who are different from them. Most of what people call “acting on religious freedom” is really just being a jerk. Not every Trump supporter or fundamentalist is a bully, but sometimes the one in your family is.
Likewise, if you’re on Obamacare, it’s insulting to listen to someone’s litany about how subsidized healthcare is just a way for lazy people to leech off society; if you’re gay, it’s got to be unbelievably offensive to hear someone’s spiel about how America was founded on wholesome Christian values, yada yada. You can argue that like it’s some kind of abstract intellectual question, but really the more appropriate response is “fuck you, too.”
Intellectually, I understand that it’s better to show people kindness and understanding so that they’ll respond in kind, but in practice that’s asking a lot.
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My wife and I tend to cancel each other’s votes out in federal elective offices, but track pretty well and local and state offices and initiatives so we both go. This year, though, we’re both voting for Johnson.
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The Trump supporter in my family doesn’t actually support anything Trump is really about except she’s anti-choice. The rest she got suckered in by her church community and wishful thinking that he’s an actual human being. I suppose one could argue that the rest of us have some sort of moral obligation to enlighten her, but it’s just too exhausting to argue with family over politics. I’ll argue politics with non-family any day, but not with family.
That said, she is otherwise a good and intelligent person, and in the balance I still respect her and all the good things she’s done, despite her frightening naivety in how she votes.
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Um, you know what? If someone supports Trump or thinks that marijuana should be illegal they can fuck right off. They clearly don’t love me, and I don’t even like them, much less love them.
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They’re more important. These people will actually listen to you. Besides, national level politicians come up through the ranks from somewhere. Weed out the bad ones early before they get into national office.
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I have close family members who do not support Trump whatsoever, but are vehemently and strenuously anti-Hillary, to the point where they may vote Trump simply out of protest. Their reasons are small minded and ignorant in the extreme. Suffice it to say that we don’t talk about politics at family gatherings – at all.
That said, “hey, Trump just said the dumbest shit ever!” is pretty much a universal source of amusement.
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#Not Enough Likes! Need MOAR LIKES!
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Just noting that in recent Democratic primary races here in Boston area for local and regional offices, every winner was a candidate supported by Bernie’s Our Revolution group. They’re really working hard at the local level nationally.
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Then you have forfeited any right to be loved.
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That’s unfortunate. There’s much better choices out there. I can’t see how anyone would support a candidate who wants to abolish the Department of Education, supports the TPP, wants to bring back the old healthcare system before Obamacare, supports for-profit prisons, wants to bring back the gold standard, and feels that climate change is a silly thing to worry about.
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How about when the disagreement is over existential matters? It’s all fine and good to say there’s no need to tear one’s family apart over marijuana legalization, but what happens when your dad is supporting the guy who’s rounding up your friends and throwing them in concentration camps?
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"If you have a racist friend, now is the time for your friendship to end."
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That is a priceless look on Christy’s face in the video screen cap. It’s somewhere between “WTF?” and “I’m going straight to hell for supporting this shithead.”
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Watch the whole video. It just loops on that, with Trump quotes in the foreground and TMBG’s “Your Racist Friend” in the background.
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