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]Would a liberal date you?
“Have you ever dated a conservative?” I asked the intelligent, successful, attractive, age-appropriate Jewish woman on the phone.
We’d been on two dates. They generated good vibes, more than a little heat and hope for the future.
Saying that, her answer re: the political leanings of previous paramours left little doubt the jury was still out.
“No.”
The perilous political predicament reminds me of two things: Love American Style and one of my early forays into online dating. I take you to a fancy restaurant nestled in Lakeway’s Lexus-loving heart…
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Even before the first drink arrived, my date started grilling me. The tone and tenor of her questions made it obvious she was so far left she wouldn’t take a right turn on red.
I felt like a whitetail in a hunter’s crosshairs. All I wanted was a nice friendly dinner – not my own head on a plate. So I ducked and dodged and weaved and prevaricated and dissembled.
I tried to hide behind the Constitution, but I was on a hiding to nowhere. There was no way to avoid being “outed” as the racist misogynist capitalist swine she clearly thought me to be.
Wanted me to be? That too. Anyway, to my eternal credit/shame I stuck it out and paid for dinner, as racist misogynist capitalist swine are wont to do.
My latest romantic interest is also a die-hard liberal. The question is, will it be die-hard with a vengeance?
The signs are encouraging. For one thing, she’s OK with this post. For another, she has a sense of humor and a kind heart.
Be that as it is, one thing’s for sure: she ain’t gonna let it ride.
As a good American, I approach this conflict armed with the believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Although I have considerable experience debating contentious issues – having founded and run The Truth About Guns for more than a decade – I don’t feel the need to proselytize.
Equally, I’m well aware that conservatives can be just as intolerant as liberals. But I’m not that guy. Unless I’m forced in a corner by someone I don’t want to know, biblically or otherwise.
Where To Draw the Line
joinonelove.org’s cross party dater Colleen Gonzalez (not shown) reckons there has to be a boundary.
We allow ourselves to open to new ideas when we question what we originally thought we knew. Though, keep in mind, your partner should never force their beliefs on you. A supportive partner would not try to influence your opinions. Instead, they would tell you this is how they see an issue and that how you process that information is up to you.
In my experience, most liberals are no more willing to let a conservative’s views be than a fundamentalist Christian is willing to leave an atheist intellectually unmolested.
That said, my Christian AF friend Michael (above) has only once asked me when I’m going to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, and we get on like a bible on fire.
And why not? We share a moral code. In the same sense, I respect liberals’ desire to make the world a better place for people who struggle. That should be enough common ground, right?
A Tale of a Trick
For me, there’s a trick to dating/dealing with people who don’t share my opinion about something I’ve carefully considered: don’t prod. Don’t go looking for the truth about everything.
If you want to know how that’s going generally, check the title at the top of this website.
Specifically, I admitted this “weakness” when the woman in question asked her first ever probing question: “What might I find annoying about you after six weeks?”
How this political palaver plays out with Ms. Potentially Right is anyone’s guess, but I’ll know long before a 42-day revelation.
And no, I didn’t tell her that her question was annoying. That would almost be as inadvisable as believing in limited government. Perish the thought.
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