[quote=eavesdropper]
Your statement, “I am not going to lie, I am a conservative when it comes to limited powers of federal government’s ability to be involved in my personal life”, is sobering. Not because of your political leanings or views, but because you felt compelled to preface “I am a conservative” with the conditional “I am not going to lie”. I feel sad because I, too, feel a similar need to condition any expression of my political views, largely because of the current political atmosphere. I miss those days of free and feisty political exchange from a decade ago. I feel like my freedom to evaluate and judge and choose political views and candidates is being viewed as unpatriotic, and is being challenged. That frightens me.[/quote]
I agree, but as you mentioned, we live in polarized times and it seems as soon as someone hears, “I’m liberal” or “I’m conservative” the discussion ends or becomes defensive if the person engaging in the discussion is of opposite affiliation. I guess if I need to preface with a condition in order to engage in productive discussion I will do it. If neither side gives…we are never going to get anywhere.
It is funny how some conservatives pride themselves on being patriotic but will often shut down any opposing views when the very core of this great country is the right to express those views as long as they don’t bring harm to others. In turn, some liberals pride themselves as being all excepting and embracing…as long as the views being embraced reflect their own. I guess you can chalk it up to ignorance and only hope that those people can be educated and refine their thinking.
