Sunday, November 17, 2013

Agree to disagree

One of my Facebook friends recently posted that one of her Facebook friends, a Tea Party follower, unfriended her.  Susan is very liberal, even more liberal than me.
I have several Facebook friends who espouse Libertarian, Tea Party, and Republican opinions.  I espouse Democratic, liberal, and sometimes (gasp!) Libertarian opinions.  I have never had any of my Facebook friends un-friend me, nor have I un-friended anyone over political opinions.  One of things I love about Facebook is the diversity of opinion my friends express on a variety of issues.
Generally, I think we all have a lot more in common than we have differences.  Most of us want what is best for our country and our citizens.  We disagree on how to get there.
A good example is my massage therapist, Cathy.  She is a born-again, Evangelical Christian.  You would think that a political liberal like me would have no common ground with her on an issue like abortion.  It's true that I am not ready to go back to the days when abortion was illegal, and she would like to see it outlawed today.  Some of my liberal friends think that clinics discouraging abortion are just political fronts for misogynistic male Republican politicians.  I disagree.  My friend Cathy volunteers at a clinic that counsels young girls against abortion.  But they also provide emotion and financial support to the girls that choose to put their babies up for adoption, or keep them and raise them.  These people are truly Christian in my opinion.  We have common ground on this issue.  I agree with Bill Clinton when he said that abortion should be safe, legal and rare.  I think babies should not be viewed as a punishment for girls who engage in sexual relations.  Cathy agrees with me.  Babies should be loved and valued, regardless of the circumstances of their conception.
So let's think about it people.  Let's try to find things we can agree on and work on together, and put aside our disagreements while we do so.

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