You sort of know me, so how did THIS happen?

[babylonsister]

I'm dating a republican with some left leaning tendencies (yea, I'm working on that), who works for a defense company that makes guns. And I really like him.

:wtf:

I'm not asking for advice, but just saying, "it could happen". We all can get along if we're reasonable. So far, anyway. :D

[Lucinda]

1. LOL - Funny how that happens sometimes isn't it?

A couple of my closest friends are Reps - also with some left leaning tendencies. It makes for some interesting dinners. :)

[flvegan]

2. You're dating Obama?

Sorry, I wanted to be the first one here to make the obvious joke, as much of DU has been highly critical of him.

Congrats to you though, and work quickly. We've got an election coming up you know? LOL!

[leftstreet]

4. ...

:spray:

[amyrose2712]

5. Zing!

[OneGrassRoot]

38. LOL! n/t

[racaulk]

45. !

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

51. .

[geckosfeet]

3. Well - he is a lucky guy.

And good luck to you!:thumbsup:

on edit: I work with a bunch of repubs, and frequently rub shoulders with a bunch of tea bag leaning types. I just avoid all political issues because generally they are right and that's all there is to it. For many of them, intellectual discussion is beyond their range comprehension.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. I have a good friend who's pretty high up in the Republican hierarchy

He's a good guy, just wrong on a bunch of issues. I try to educate him. He tries to educate me. As long as we have a sense of humor, it all works out (so far).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liq_wYFkMoU&feature=related

Good luck.

[amyrose2712]

7. Good luck! Hope you teach him a thing or two!

I don't think I could do that. I have a "friend"(facebook/grade school) that LOVES Pearl Jam and I'm like how can she like them so much she's a REPUBLICAN! I never used to be this narrow if you will but then there was * :shrug: :shrug:

[unionworks]

8. I was trained

...by some serious right wing folks that would make Sean Hannity look like Ariana Huffingtons soiled panties. To this day, I would cheerfully lay my life down for any one of them. Love is love, sweetie. Don't fight it, it beats the shit out of war.:hippie:

[lunatica]

9. Well having experienced such a relationship for 15 years I say good luck to you

I truly hope it works for you. My experience was that a closed mind is closed by choice and the more you try to shed some light on any subject the more closed it gets. He was my husband and when I finally left and we divorced I turned out to be happy for the first time in all those years. But it could be that marriage is simply not for me. I know I would never get involved with a Republican. Not even as a friend.

I can tolerate them at work because I don't have to talk to them about those things we don't have in common. The relationship stays on a solid professional, albeit friendly level. But my friends are all liberals.

[peace frog]

10. I've been married to a registered Republican

with left-leaning tendencies for 32 years. He has voted Democratic since 1992 and I like to think I had something to do with his voting conversion.
That, and the quality of Republican candidates has seriously eroded over the years.
In any event, YES it can happen! :fistbump:

[pacalo]

28. I can understand marrying a Republican 32 years ago.

When they were sane.

[roody]

11. Sexual attraction knows no bounds.

[catabryna]

12. I was married to a Republican...

they can come around over time.

[seabeyond]

13. i married a republican... nra card holding, texan. left on all the social issues.

he voted bush first term. then voted kerry, obama and refuses to vote another repug pres and laughs at nra when they call to tell him obama is comin to take his guns.

it works

he is a keeper. respects me tons. i respect him as much

[AverageJoe90]

23. Good for you guys! n/t =)

[Cleita]

14. Love is strange?

I dated a guy in the past (before I met DH) who was a professional athlete and I don't like sports. He also had really nothing in common with me intellectually or shared any of the same interests, yet we got along and actually had fun until the relationship ran its course. We still exchange Xmas cards forty years later.

[unkachuck]

15. "I'm dating a republican..."

....oh my, I'll pray for you....

[stevedeshazer]

16. Good luck!

There are a few Republicans I love, my brother for example.

But remember, you can't change him.

Instead, you change each other.

:)

[knowbody0]

17. clearly,

he's going to greatly benefit from the relationship. he'll be one of US in no time. carry on sister!

[Lint Head]

18. Good luck. You're gonna need it.

[rdking647]

19. when I met my wife I was a conservative republican

and she was a child of the 60's hippie.

that was 28 years ago.
Now im a liberal and while she is still to the left of me shes not far left...
Weve been married since 1989

[RagAss]

20. Back in the day, most gun machinists were union members.

I'm guessing that's all in the past.

[sad sally]

21. Defense company, huh? One that makes weapons used to kill the enemy and/or others, huh?

Too bad, but guess as long as America remains the Country That Can't Have Enough Wars or kill enough, your reasonable person will have a steady job.

(snotty of me? yep. just happen to think the MIC has destroyed this country.)

[ChandlerJr]

22. So what your saying is that there is a real life outside

of this place. Maybe more of you need to learn a lesson in the real world.

[a kennedy]

24. I'm sorry.....who was the guy....."Can't we all just get along??"

When they had punched the day lights out of him....and he's saying....."can't we all just get along??"..... Oh yeah we can.................................... NOT............................

[On the Road]

33. That Would be

Rodney King

[bigwillq]

25. Are you happy?

Because, really, that's the only thing that matters. Good luck to you. :hi:

[Mira]

26. Oh please keep us in the loop. I wish you the best, and

:popcorn:

[Marie Marie]

27. Good for you. Now, love him, charm him, educate him and then,

bring him into the light. You have a wonderful opportunity here. Good luck in your relationship. :hi:

[one_voice]

29. I dated a Republican too...

he worked for Senator Roth, thought Reagen was a God. After 20+ years of marriage things have definitely changed. He still thinks "old school" Republicans are decent people, but he's very liberal now and is a registered Democrat.

My hubby wasn't one of those crazy pugs, we had our disagreements, but in the end we both wanted the same thing...we just disagreed on how to get there. He never advocated for doing away with safety nets, or letting our sick and poor fend for themselves, he's nothing like the crop we have now.

[Major Hogwash]

30. Is baby oil involved? Wax candles? Whips, chains, things that bind? I could see that.

If the Republican would let me tie her down long enough to light the damn candle.

:popcorn:

[babylonsister]

35. Hahahaha! No, at least

not yet. :hide:

[pacalo]

31. I do wish you the best, babylonsister.

Personally, I couldn't have given him a second more of my time after learning his political perspective. After all that has happened in the last 11 years, he has not yet been able to use his own common sense to discern the truth & then make the decision to reject the Republican party on his own?

Realizing that would forever be in the back of my mind, I'd keep him as a friend, but nothing more. Any chance for potential attraction is already decimated.

[kestrel91316]

32. I dated a RWer for 6 years. He worked for an aerospace contractor.

He was ALL about hunting (fine with me) and gun rights (I was lukewarm on the fanaticism). He misled me at the beginning, saying he leaned left. He didn't.

In the end, I gave up on him. He became too vocally racist for me to put up with in the least, and his contempt for women started to show, too.

YMMV. Good luck.

[Safetykitten]

34. What exactly are the "left leaning" items other than recycling that he does?

[PassingFair]

36. Doesnt' surprise me at all.

Why would it?

[kctim]

37. How?

By seeing the person, instead of the insane political stereotypes.

I've been married to a conservative for 22 years. I'm a moderate Democrat and a biker. Talk about exact opposites.

Judging people by their politics is idiotic.

Good for you and congrats.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

39. Met my hubby while he was still in army, just back from deployment

He comes from a solid conservative and religious family. We were just having fun, blowing off steam, healing emotional scars when we hooked-up.

When politics came into our lives things were a mess. The Scott Brown election was a low point because I exploded and chased him away. While we were split-up I was miserable and so was he even though we were seeing other people.

I decided people are more important than politics. If I claim my politics are about people and then use my politics to chase away good people then I'm lying to the people I pretend to care about and I'm lying to myself. We set aside our politics and we have been in a whirlwind romance ever since. He's a good man. He works hard. He adores me. I'm happy, he's happy. I love his family dearly. They love me. We cried together when his mom passed this summer. My dad loves my hubby like a son. I don't think I've ever been happier.

Politics should be your last consideration. If he's a good person that is all that matters. Make him happy and let him make you happy. Think about how much time you spend in a voting booth every 2 to 4 years and then think of all the goodness and happiness you would be throwing away if politics decided who you loved.

Life is awesome...if you want it.

[babylonsister]

52. Thank you for reminding me about all the good stuff. I know

it in my bones, but thanks for putting it into words. :hug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. I'm an Anarchist married to Marxist and we've gotten along fine for 30 years.

Of course, we're both pacifists so our disagreements about politics are bloodless.

[seabeyond]

44. for whatever reason a pacifist anarchist is the bomb. lol. i love it. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

46. Gandhi was a Anarchist and pacifist. So was Tolstoy.

Seeing as how one of Anarchism's first principals is to oppose the abuse of power what could be more natural than opposing the use of force?

[seabeyond]

48. not in definition sense, but i can see it in a poetic sense. outside the box

an·ar·chist
    Show IPA

noun
1.
a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.

2.
a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.

3.
a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

49. Try these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-pacifism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_in_India

[Dreamer Tatum]

41. It is an excellent indicator that neither you nor he is an asshole.

Congratulations and good luck to you both.

Life is bigger than politics - it just MIGHT be bigger than DU.

[coalition_unwilling]

42. I'm guessing he's part of a vanishing breed, the Rockefeller Republicans, and

is ripe for conversion to the side of sanity?

I mean, really, after 'Guns, God and Gays' what else does today's Repuke Party have?

[LaurenG]

43. Wow. I wish you all the best.

I could not date a republican unless there was tons of money involved (millions and then dating would exclude touching). I can't stand them, they lie and they scare me so I would have to lose out on dating a potential nice person due to my incredible prejudice against anything remotely smelling of an "R"

Stay sane and again best wishes.

[babylonsister]

53. No 'tons of money', and that wasn't what I was looking for. And

they don't all lie. Fact is, I was in search of honesty, and found it. If being honest is relaying opinions I don't always agree with, what does that make me? We have spirited conversations which can be infinitely more constructive than always agreeing. Living in GA, I'm getting used to being the odd man out, but intellectual discussions are also good.

Thanks!

[TBF]

47. The 99% of us who don't have all the wealth have much in common.

Enjoy your new beau.

[Hoosier Daddy]

50. Something we don't get to choose

My first wife made Michele Bachmann look like a Communist.