Yes, R stands for Republican and D stands for Democrat. Elephant versus Donkey.

When you get married later in life, you can rest assured that you and Husband have already chosen which political side of the fence on which you reside. But, at first it doesn’t matter so much. In the beginning, you forgive each other their foibles and (ridiculous) beliefs. But, after a few years, there comes a moment when you realize he is not going to magically turn into a D just because you’re right you want him to.

Thankfully we didn’t get married during an election year. I know to be thankful now, because last year WAS an election year and – wow.

You see, I come from a big Democratic family. My mother went to Smith College, my father went to Brown University. Mom was a delegate for George McGovern in 1972 and dad was the Dean of Humanities for the local community college. Need I say more?

Husband comes from the South (not a given that you’ll be an R, but the likelihood grows). His mom was an accountant, his dad was worked for GE. Heck, Husband worked for GE for 26 years. You get the picture.

Lucky for us, little political news encroached upon our first two years of marriage. But, then the world had to wise up and nominate Obama for U.S. President in year three. Suddenly, Husband was acutely interested in who I was going to vote for. And, then Sarah Palin entered the picture. That is when things got really ugly.

When the political fighting was at an all time high, suddenly the gift of age – level-headedness – magically emerged.

Age does have some benefits, and making way for others’ opinions is usually one of them. (I realized then that God really knew what she was doing when she made me an LBB.)

Instead of letting things deteriorate, we came up with Political Ground Rules. Here they are:

• No watching the news and then turning to the other person and yelling at them. It’s not my fault Brian Williams said that. And, I forgive you, Husband, for Bill O’Reilly’s ideas.
• No saying Ds or Rs are stupid. But, saying the “government as a whole” is off its rocker was okay.
• No saying ALL Ds or Rs are, well, anything. Name names. People are people, and they come up with stupid things all by themselves, on both sides. Give them credit for it.
• No party has the lock on caring or intelligence. They both care and, for the most part, they are really smart people. Well, except for the big guy we tossed out on January 20.

What do you do with conflicting political ideas? Any words of wisdom to impart?

 

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