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Another, almost-a-chat, chat with a friend…

(Self-proclaimed fence-sitters, centrists and moderates, please do not read farther; you are an article of your own that I shall save for another day)

These almost-a-chat chats, happen often, because I have a goodly number of friends and acquaintances, approximately 49% of which vote Democratic; some are Liberals, some are not. By now, you know me to be quite the opposite of a Liberal, sympathetic to real Democrats, but always willing to discuss political nuances! 

Anyway, here’s the thing with these almost-a-chat chats… If you are a conservative thinker, a Liberal thinker, or just believe you are a plain old Democrat or Republican, you [may] also be a person who delights in discussing politics with those who disagree with your views; however, most folks do not.  

In a past article I called; a chat with a Liberal friend, I wanted to establish points of agreement and see if we could actually construct a real action plan to support what we may have agreed upon- an action plan did not happen… Further, a point that should be made is that a chat is not a chat simply because an hour of time has elapsed. A chat is a chat only when there is a willingness to consider another’s point of view and to be willing to reconsider your own point of view- be ever mindful that to reconsider does not mean giving in. If you have a problem with reconsidering your point of view, see my article on critical thinking. 

Now then… My friend is a teacher, an MEA/NEA member, who receives good retirement benefits from many years of teaching and some good bargaining work on behalf of her union, the local MEA branch. No problem with me on any of that- the job of a union is to get the best they can get from management (another article yet to be written).  

I asked her if she had looked at my website. She said she had “looked” at it. I immediately caught the inference of the word “looked” and asked if she had read any of the articles. She smiled and said no. Of course I could not leave it at that, and although knowing what the tone of her response would be, I asked; why? She said she “doesn’t want her health care ruined”- and that was that. I know, non-sequitor; but I already knew that spending more time conversing might not be wise…  

My point is that many folks who have an emotional attachment to a particular political party will support that party, if only for that particular reason. They refuse to discuss anything that may, in any stretch of the imagination, get them to admit disagreement with the party that supports their particular “thing”. Yes, there are strict right-to-life individuals who vote Republican solely because of that issue; however, Democrats long ago figured out how to capitalize on that phenomenon, ergo my reference to Democrats playing to groups in that same chat with a Liberal friend  article.