All in the Family
This is a photo of me and my brother Bob. One of us voted for and still supports Bush. The other thinks he’s ruined U.S. credibility and should be recalled or impeached. You could say we’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, but when you add to the equation that Bob leans towards Libertarianism and I tend to be fiscally conservative, maybe not. Regardless of how one might label me or my brother, we still love each other.
I’d like to thank my readers for the recent civil discourse on current events here at Loose Leaf. One of the things I love about blogging is that I get to interact with a variety of people that I probably wouldn’t cross paths with otherwise. Getting a peek into other people’s lives and risking letting them see mine, via our blogs, can be humanizing. The more I do it the more I can see the multi-dimensional nature of each person, and that, as human beings, we are more alike than we are different.
What about you? Do you live with someone on the other side of the aisle or with a different philosophy of life? Are you able to agree to disagree?
Post Note: The photo was taken by my sister, Tricia, at our brother Jimmy’s annual memorial picnic at the Blue Hill Observatory in Massachusetts.
September 19th, 2005 9:21 am
My dh and I completely disagree on some topics; religion and gun control for two of them. But as deepseated as our feelings can be on those topics. We still get along. We each know how the other feels and we are okay with that.
September 19th, 2005 9:44 am
My husband and I are on the same page politically, but his parents are not. We are happy to agree to disagree and not discuss politics (there are so many other things to talk about), but his father loves to bait me. My husband actually had to call him on it tell him to knock it off the last time we were with them. It was unpleasant.
I will admit to being confrontational when it comes to politics… I like to question people and force them to defend their positions/beliefs. But I’d also like to think that I know when I’ve gone too far.
September 19th, 2005 10:30 am
my husband and i have some different reilgious beliefs…
but we have managed to be happy around it…
September 19th, 2005 10:46 am
My husband and I are so different it has become a joke to us. So often when he thinks one thing, I think the other. It can be a delicate dance sometimes, but it really helps me to practice the tolerance and love of diversity I preach.
September 19th, 2005 1:02 pm
I come from a military family and even still have active duty members, so most of us vote Republican since that party seems to be more defense-oriented and pro-military (esp. based upon the lack of pay raises during Clinton’s term). Like you, though, I tend to also be fiscally conservative, though my social views lean toward the liberals.
September 19th, 2005 3:08 pm
My wife and I have diparate views not only on politics but also on human nature. I believe that people by nature are selfish and are not altruistic. People are literally animals, and animals fight for food, mates, territory, etc. Politics interferes with this natural behavior in so far as to achieve the goals of a government rather than the individual.
On the hand, she believes people are inherently good and want to help others in need. She wants to level the playing field for everyone. Yes, we still love each other and learn from each other.
September 19th, 2005 3:24 pm
When I married, I was a Republican protestant and my husband was a Democratic Catholic who seldom went to Mass. I have changed my affiliation to “neutral” and he is still listed as a Dem, but he votes Repub. nearly all the time, and he has gotten very religious lately.
We have to agree to disagree about most everything, even child-rearing. It isn’t easy.
September 19th, 2005 3:40 pm
I think pundits and political figures tend to play into the idea that we are one party or another, but I don’t think it’s always that black and white, and from this small sampling of comments so far, I can see it we are not all in the boxes.
If it’s true that Republicans are more military/soldier minded, I would hope they would be more mindful of putting soldiers in harms way for anything but absolutely necessary reasons.
Interesting answer by Jim… I think we are both selfish and altruistic. I do think humans are geared to be overly concerned with “self,” but I think at the same time we do have a spark of shinning goodness to be tapped. I believe they exist together and that is part of our struggle as humans to balance. It reminds me of a Buddhist-like equation that came to me recently:
Self-forgetting = Bliss
Bliss = Self-Awareness
Very Zen.
By the way, the comment by Jim startled me because my dear brother Jim who passed away could have made a comment just like Jim’s!
September 19th, 2005 4:57 pm
HI Col, Kathy here. Speaking of Jim (our Jim), I blogged about him today too because my topic was the weather — they’ve got another hurricane breathing down their necks in Florida, with chances of it going into the Gulf again.Thanks for putting up Jim’s memoral picnic page. I went back in and used it too… it fit perfectly with my topic. As for differences, politically speaking, Oz and I don’t always agree but we each know where to draw the line with eachother and we honor the freedom to disagree. He does not like Bush as much as I don’t like him, but he sometimes misunderstands that my aim which is to bring attention to what is wrong. It seems to me to be the best way to make it right. BTW, great picture of you and Bobby.
September 19th, 2005 5:15 pm
My sister and I are extreme opposites. Her Southern upbringing and my West Coast Attitude…But we agree to disagree. Nice picture.
September 19th, 2005 5:24 pm
great subject and forum today. Wish it could happen like this more often and in more places.
September 19th, 2005 9:19 pm
Does apolitical and political count? My parents and I agree to not bore each other.
Nice pic there.
September 19th, 2005 11:42 pm
I can never decide what I think politically. Neither can my husband. We tend to disagree on the details, but ultimately, we’re equally confused by the complexity of stuff.
September 20th, 2005 2:04 am
I often smile after reading your blog at how many similarities we have. My middle brother is also a conservative and Bush supporter. But we agree on our love of nature and cooking and so many other things.
September 20th, 2005 6:00 am
I have a dear childhood friend whom I’ve seen become more politically conservative, plus we have different views on the Middle East. Not sure if we “agree to disagree” so much as simply give each other space on those issues.
September 20th, 2005 2:45 pm
Oh yes. I live with the other end on certain beliefs. I tend to have a nice mix of liberal/conservative depending of course on the issue. TheMan – total conservative. Hates change even if it makes things better. The irritating part, for me anyway, is that he won’t explain why he believes what he does. Only that he believes X. Not I believe X because… oh the frustration! You’d think after 11 years of my brow beating him to death, he’d at least for a better answer than Because.
September 20th, 2005 5:24 pm
Keb, you hit the nail on the head for me. The hardest part of having a civil discourse is when people don’t give any rationale for what they say or believe.
In many cases discourse gets reduced down to name calling…such as “those liberals,” or that’s just “un-American” or “you’re with us or against us.” I don’t think things are so black and white.