Before I begin, let me apologize for the brevity of this column. It should be markedly longer, but frankly, I’m exhausted from digging my car out from all this global warming. I’m writing today on a topic which perplexes more people than quantum mechanics and Shirley Ann Jackson’s salary combined, that is, just how do you—a fire-breathing, gun-toting College Republican who keeps a picture of Ronald Reagan over his desk—have Democrat friends?
The answer is simple: Politics aren’t everything. A person’s philosophy on taxation, national defense and social policy has precisely no bearing on their ability to talk about their shared admiration for “House, M.D.” or their mutual disdain for Yankees fans. People can spend 80 hours a week crusading to keep a party out of office and still watch TV, have a beer, or sleep next to one of its members. This ability to compartmentalize our existences is what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom (even if we disagree with how that separation came about).
Sure, we can mess with each other’s organizations: The College Republicans are presently cast on this campus as insensitive racists, whereas the Democrats are currently fighting the outlandish perception that they don’t allow women at their meetings (a product of yours truly). Civility in politics can’t be reliant on respecting each other’s
organizations, because we don’t. Opposition between political parties represents the culmination of ideas to which we are diametrically opposed but that we actively work to impose. Remembering that there exists a separation between a political party and its members is all that can be expected of us as Americans attempting to engage in civil conduct. With this separation established, we are free to explore the basic compatibilities and shared interests upon which friendships grow.
