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Edited on Fri Aug-14-09 03:12 AM by Mythsaje
I'm fortunate in a lot of respects. I don't have any Republican family members, either on my own side or as in-laws, that I have to tolerate. My father's a life-long Dem, his g/f doesn't follow politics, and my mother-in-law is one of my biggest fans (for both my fiction and my political stuff). Most of my friends are liberals too, and even one of my oldest friends, who's a bit more conservative than I am, is leaning more and more my direction since everything started going to shit. He's a conservative Dem, if anything. But toward the end of the Bush regime he was starting to sound like a certified lefty. Him AND his redneck roommate.
But I've got a friend at work, a co-worker, whose quite openly a young Republican. Despite this, I actually like him quite a bit. He's a good kid, a good worker, and very rarely foams at the mouth. But he's so serious about being a Republican, he got the red, white, and blue elephant tattooed on his arm. I just saw it today and burst out laughing.
"Are you serious?" I asked him, pointing at the tat.
"You planning on getting the donkey on yours?" he asked me, grinning.
I shook my head. "Nuh-uh," I told him. "I'm not all that happy with them right now," I said in a growl.
We've talked politics before and though we know we see a lot of things differently, we usually start with the things we agree on. Like gun control, for example. We're both for reasonable legislation that keeps weapons out of the hands of crazies, but have no issue at all with sane, responsible, law-abiding citizens having access to weapons.
It's one of the things it's very easy for us to find common ground on, and that gives us a platform from which we can explore other things as intelligent people, not bitter enemies. As I said, I really like this kid despite his Republicanism. I get the feeling he feels the same way about me from the opposite end.
Rather a surprise, considering I haven't met many other Republicans I like. Ever. He doesn't spout talking points, preferring to use his own words to express his opinions (something that raises his status immensely in my estimation).
Anyway... We got to talking about health care. He said something about being for reasonable regulation of the insurance companies... Basically, price controls. I pointed out that, from my perspective, insurance companies don't really add anything to the process, and their whole purpose is to make a profit by refusing care whenever they can get away with it.
He couldn't argue the point. Didn't even try. He knows it's true as well as we do. Then, as we were heading our separate ways, I mentioned Single Payer and said "just from the perspective of being fiscally conservative, it's actually our least expensive option."
He thought about it and nodded, saying "Yeah, I guess that's true."
I feel good about being able to get just one Republican to see it from that perspective. Despite the fact that he's a very religious, very "right" thinking individual, he's willing to keep an open mind about such things. It says a lot about him, and a lot about the issue. We CAN reach those willing to open their minds the tiniest bit. But we have to do it as individuals, and in the spirit of mutual respect.
As I also mentioned. "If you talk to average people from Canada, Britain, or other countries with universal health care, one of the things you hear is that they absolutely wouldn't give it up. Particularly not for what we have. And that says something too."
Smart kid. That had him nodding as well. Even if I planted a tiny seed, that seed might grow. And even if he remains a Republican (he has the damned elephant tattooed on his upper arm, for crissakes--:eyes: ) he might grow to be the kind of Republican we won't mind sharing a country with, one with whom we can respectfully disagree without getting into a shouting match.
When I first admitted to being a liberal, during the early days when I was training him, he asked me what it meant to me. My first response was "tolerant. Accepting of people who are different than I am." And so far he's seen what that means with regard to himself. He's religious, Republican, and goofy enough to get that damn elephant tattoo. But I accept him. And he accepts me. And I think we're friends despite all of our differences.
It's not much, but it's something.
edited to eliminate an unnecessary parenthesis and then to add a comma
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