I want to say leaning moderate.
I'm pro-Black.
A little more left-leaning than the Democratic party.
First and foremost I am a conservative.
With election night right around the corner, politics is on the minds of most Americans.
But, what affect does this have on our love lives?
Can a conservative and a liberal even date?
I think that relationships stem from, or are, you know, parallel to friendships.
And I don't develop close rapport with anyone whose politics aren't close to men.
Every couple of minutes If I would have to turn back and say, no I don't believe in this,
no I don't want this, then I would begin to question "Would I want to marry this person?
Would I want to have kids with this person?
Would my child, you know, support the DREAM Act or would my child, you know, never raise
taxes?"
I definitely don't think I could be with anyone who is more than a moderate.
I think moderate even to me is like "really?"
It's just too much.
I think politics right now are not in a place where if you identify as a strong conservative
or strong liberal, those two people would really be able to get along in any situation
let alone romantically.
If you told me two years ago that I would marry a liberal I would have been like "Oh
come on, really?"
But, but I did.
Yes, you heard right.
He's a conservative who married a liberal.
How did that happen you ask?
Emily, you know, she wanted to make sure, my wife, she wanted to make sure that you
know, I wasn't some creep, that you know that I was kind of a halfway decent guy.
So, we started texting before we actually met.
And, it's so funny because, she went to my Facebook page, and she noticed like you know,
all these political posts, and all my discussions in terms of conservatism and she's like "Oh
my gosh."
And she almost stopped texting back, so um, I've very grateful that I *laughs* got a second
chance.
Like most conservatives, Henry told me that he believes the role of government should
be limited, and that that's a huge conflict between him and his wife.
But luckily for them, that's not their political deal breaker.
She is pro-life like I am, um, so that's an action issue where we agree on, and that's
kind of nice.
Because that would I think be really difficult for me, um, to sort of deal with, um, because
I do just believe strongly you know, in the defense of the unborn.
And one, you know, this is sort of unrelated, but one, critique of pro-lifers as well you
know you want kids to be born but you just kind of throw up your hands and you walk away.
And, you know, I think conservatives have to address that.
The willingness to not only hear the other side's argument, but not only address it too,
would not only make a bipartisan relationship work, but a government too.
So why does that feel so out of reach these days?
There aren't these common shared experiences between Republicans and Democrats in the same
way that there used to be, right.
Back in the day, lets say after World War II, people were all coming back from the war
and some were Republicans some were Democrats they all had this common experience, you know
we're all American we all do that.
Now, it's like, there aren't any common experiences.
You grow up so polarized by what you are: being Black, by being a woman, by, you know,
having parents who are immigrants, by having had higher education, all of these different
things that polarize you and give you a consciousness of like I'm this singular person, not like
I'm part of a whole, we as a country.
Wherever you stand on this, one area we all need to work together is getting ourselves
and our communities to the polls.
As a person who's lived here since I was a baby, but can't vote because I'm not a citizen,
there is nothing less sexy to me, than a person that gives up their right to be counted.