Today, I discovered that one of my new favorite people is quietly a Republican. This is a fact she works quite hard to keep on the DL, which both surprises me and makes an awful lot of sense. I always assume that young, Californian Stanford students are liberals, for no real reason other than the overwhelming liberalism of the state of California and college campuses in general, but I guess really it shouldn’t surprise us all so much that some of our peers are rooting for McCain.
My friend is not a person who is silent about her opinions. She is always the student most likely to fight with a professor in class, to declare out loud her hatred for some revered member of the English canon, or to point out the utter idiocy of that thing you just said without thinking in lecture. This makes her sound like a very difficult person, and indeed, at first glance, she can be. However, she is also highly fashionable, deeply cool, and very funny.
And (my god!), a Republican.
She says (and I believe her) that it can be kind of scary to be conservative in such a wildly liberal place. Somewhat to my continual surprise, I really enjoy her as a person–so much, in fact, that I’m afraid to ask her about her politics. I’m afraid she’ll say something and lose her sparkle, or that I’ll say something and she’ll decide I am The Enemy. So how do you talk to your conservative friends in an election year? Do you ask these questions? Do you have these fights? Or do you just tell them how totally adorable their sweaters are, and try to convince them that Jack Kerouac is, indeed, worthy of their time?
Ah, young Republicans. Especially young female Republicans are mysterious to me. Don’t they understand what’s at stake? Anyway, I usually just stay away from politics. They couldn’t change my mind, so I don’t think I could change theirs. But sometimes talking through particular issues can be interesting.
I’ve had plenty of conservative friends in my time, and politics doesn’t always have to be taboo. I think real friendship involves, and sometimes thrives on, disagreements. What you’ll inevitably learn is that some of your friend’s opinions are just as bat-shit crazy as you feared, but that mostly they’re quite reasonable. It’s always instructive to see how the other side thinks: everyone has to get off their high horse for a good parlay.
ginsberg over kerouac
(but still essential)
sweaters yes &
speak of the politics if you must/ desire to
it seems like she’d prolly respect you for having your own beliefs considering she stands up for her own vehemently
..or she’ll go psycho on your ass & tell you how you’re degrading the morals of society or something & that you are wrong wrong wrong!
in which can it might be best to know that now before getting too attached & having the illusion broken at your super best friends anniversary 5 years from now.
i hope she still sparkles, we need more of that…
I second Anna in that I can’t understand young female Republicans. I have a friend who is a young female LESBIAN Republican, and that just entirely blows my mind. We have never had any political conversations. I don’t even wanna touch that.
This is part of the problem of why you have this problem. Talk! People need to be talking! This great wall of party line is part of why this country is such a mess.
What does “republican,” even mean to her? Sydney is a card-carrying republican too and she’s one of my all time besties. Her big R status doesn’t necessarily translate to let’s continue to support the decision to enter Iraq, let’s ignore domestic policy and let’s mistreat a whole barrel of minority groups. It just means she’s fiscally conservative and supports that party on a few issues, not that she always votes that way. Which is her right. And she’s very sparkily too. Talking to her and my few other conservative friends really makes me do the extra research and pay attention to what I think.
I agree with Ed, if you care about politics and what’s going on with the race you should talk about it. Talking about it and realizing why you’re voting the way you’re voting is the most exciting part about this election. Also, I very much enjoyed his use of “bat-shit crazy.”
The end.
You’re just plain screwed.
Thanks, Nikhil. Very uplifting.
So far, the answer has been: you (potentially) join her book club and ask her where she got her shoes, all while trying to phrase a careful question about her social policy opinions (which are most of what I care about, bleeding heart that I am). And you smile.