This is not a post to bash Republicans. Just share my journey why it doesn’t work for me.
I grew up in Idaho which is as red and Republican as you can get. I was surrounded by family members who were both Democrats and Republicans. I guess that what you call a mixed marriage.
As a child I talked to people who said they had Republican values. This continued all of the time that I lived in that state. There were people who were jerks and some who were wonderful people and their politics was never a reason that I liked or disliked them.
So why am I writing this if that is true? We are more than our political affiliation, and we need to start seeing each other as more than that.
What I experienced from most Republicans was a desire to respect authority even if that authority was deceptive and hypocritical. Yes Democrats are that way too, but I saw a desire to close your eyes to the law in a Republican state and that really bothered me.
Because I was raised Catholic I was pro-life for a time and so are most Republicans. However I have since changed to Pro-Choice and I was wrong to be pro-life. Not that life is wrong, but that personal freedom is the most important as long as you aren’t hurting another adult. I was programmed to be pro-life from my upbringing, and not because I knew the facts. Once I learned the facts, I couldn’t help but be pro-choice.
Now why can I say that we are more than our political affiliation? I had the experience of once seeing the world in white-black or binary thinking. It was either this or that. I was wrong. There are shades of gray in life and that takes awhile to understand.
If you had known me when I was part of a faith then while that is what I sincerely believed at the time, I came in time to realize that it was more a matter of manipulation than sincerity on the part of the religion. You could have written me off as a person but I am more than what I currently believe. I am also someone who can learn and does learn.
We all have the ability to learn, and if something doesn’t work for us we can let it go. We can admit to ourselves that we were fooled and I have been fooled plenty of times. I have been fooled by others but mostly I have been fooled by myself.
We know when something isn’t right and we need the courage to admit to ourselves. We need to ask for others help, and we will give you whatever help you need. Growing is hard, but being angry and seeing the world in black and white isn’t helping you.
Seeing people in terms of Republicans and Democrats is black and white thinking. We all have more aspects of what we hate that we like to admit. We need to be honest with ourselves that the problem is always with ourselves.