Politics

The people who know me well, know that even more than sports and movies, I'm a politics junkie. Seeing the world from a perspective somewhere between conservative and libertarian. And yet, this blog has been mostly devoid of politics.
I've thought of jumping in from time to time, but haven't for three reasons:

1) I've seen how vicious people become over political differances. One of my supervisors at work, didn't know how she could ever talk to her neighbors again because they had a sign up in their yard for the other candidate. I've seen coworkers become unpeople in the office for the same reasons. I'd be horrified to lose friends because I have different thoughts than they do on tax levels or gay marriage or something.
2) There's a finite level of commitment that I'm willing to commit to policy discusions. I'm not willing to read hours of congressional or legal documents to justify or attack a position. The broad philosophical things I feel a handle on, but I don't want to fight over minutae.
3) I'm still drained from the presidential campaign. The same thing happened in 2001, and I felt cut off until September 11. My passion for the subject is drained.

But...I ran across a post from Ann Althouse a couple of weeks ago that makes me wonder if I do indeed have something to contribute. Ann's a law professor from UW Madison. On her blog last year, she went through a lengthy and public decision making process about who to vote for in November. In the process she found that those on the right wanted to support her and try to convert her, while the left would only denounce her for not being as far left as she was. I've seen the same type of process myself.
Now I don't want to suggest that the right is always nurturing and supporting while the left is always shrill and offputting. The reverse is possible and indeed I think that's what got Bill Clinton elected in '92. So where do I come in?
I met the FP Gal just over a year ago. We met online and both of us had put our political preferences on our profiles. We found that we liked each other, but were on opposite sides of the aisle. After some discussion (and a few heated arguments), we came to an agreement that helped us out.
The vast majority of people on the right and left are good people who only want other people to be well and happy. The differances come from the ideas of how to allow or help people to be well and happy. If you can always remember that the person on the other side is probably a good person at heart you'll find no reason to demonize them. Treat them with respect and don't assume that their stated positions are just smoke screens for their hidden agendas. Remember that good people can have disagreements and still be good people.
I wish more people could understand this.