.
I think you and I may be an example of your question.
Well i like you Rosie but i disagree with many of the positions you hold..
We are the inspiration for the question my friend. I mean you are way Conservative and I am way not yet I very much look forward to your answers because I KNOW you will respond with information I didn't know. That's why I ask questions. To learn about things I didn't know. You do not insult me for asking the question. You just answer it as best you can. I value that a lot. I do! On another thread I asked you a question first that I will ask on the site later. I'm interested to know how you will answer it. It's the one about the most troubling/worrisome thing in your opinion about Trump and about Clinton. 
Thank you for your reply m2c! :) ((hugs))
Thank you Adam. I like you too...most of the time. When you are insulting I don't like you so much . But I do appreciate this answer. Happy Friday to you! :)
They may like each other, but there's no way they'll take each other seriously. That blows respect out of the water.These two might drink a beer together, but they'll always laugh at each other behind each one's back.
I don't consider myself either Rep. or Dem. but do have different views than some of my friends. Getting along is easy when you realize that all politics are BS. to begin with, and most people want the same end results.
That is untrue. I speak from experience. But apparently it must be true for you because you are unable to respect or like people with whom you disagree. I think that is very sad if true Polk . Very sad if true. I have a very good Conservative friend on Answermug. When she answers my questions she never insults me . She just tries to educate me about something I don't know. I appreciate that. I have never laughed at her. I don't agree with many of her positions politically but that has nothing to do with my respect for her or liking her. We have other things in common
. Different strokes Polk, Thank you for your reply.
Thank you for your reply BSurf.
I do have a question for you. Since what you know about me could be placed on the head of a pin, how do you deign to take a condescending tone or attitude and lecture me on mutual respect? Something I may have forgotten more of the subject than you'll ever know. The very import of your response reveals a lack of understanding as to respect. I'm new here but I can tell already that there is an overabundance of know it all.
Hello Rosie:
Nahhh.. I hate everybody.
excon
I have more than a few liberal fans. I don't hold it against them. lol
No, I'm not.
There are many people in this world whom I like/love/respect with whom I have significant disagreements about many specific political policies, or even in large domains of political thought.
For example, RosieG and I have been friends for decades, but we have very different views on criminal law and criminal punishment. Similarly, I adore my extremely intelligent and genuinely good fellow brother, whose views on foreign policy/geopolitical maneuvering are much more Machiavellian than mine.
But ultimately political views are moral claims. Yes, sometimes they are also self-interested claims (e.g. "My taxes should be lower" or "I should receive more government benefits"), but even self-interest is ultimately a moral statement. It's an assertion that one's existence and/or behavior confers some sort of right or privilege, which one "deserves" on the basis of said existence and/or behavior.
If I consistently disagree with someone over a broad spectrum of political domains, that suggests the person and I have very different ideas about what fundamentally constitutes morality. I don't see how one can like or respect (beyond "respect" in being mindful of the person's capabilities) another person whom one considers immoral.
Of course, that's not really how it works in the real world. In the real world, most people don't have consistent well-thought-out systematic bases for their political beliefs. They have a hodge-podge of moral notions, prejudices, Kin Selection, misinformation, hypocrisy, desire to fit in socially, comfortable slogans, historical ignorance, Confirmation Bias, and so forth. So, what we mostly encounter in the real world are people who LABEL themselves as "conservative" or "liberal" (or whatever), but when they elucidate their actual beliefs, they are a hodge-podge, and enough of us are hodge-podges who share enough overlap in our moral claims that we can like and respect each other, regardless of the labels we choose.
Including me? Why excon?
Not if they back Trump. I don't .
Mahalo for your reply OS. Well over the years m2c and I started out as adversaries on Answerbag. But over the years we found that other than politics we had some very similar views. Also when she replies to a question she does not insult me. She answers it. Some of those answers have been VERY informative and given me info I did not have before. So I figure if we can do it...she and I...anyone can do it . Perhaps I'm wrong. Our friendship developed over many years. There was a great deal of acrimony and antipathy early on But we hung in and found value in each other. I consider her to be a good Answermug friend. She has gone to bat for me numerous times. Isn't that what friends do? :)
:):):) Thank you once again for watching my back my friend. See why I appreciate you? You are as Conservative as I am Liberal and yet here you are defending me. I don't understand those folks who are so certain that Conservatives and Liberals cannot be respectful of one another and like each other. It simply does not compute. You and I are proof it can work, Oh well m2c . I guess we just keep doing what we believe is right and other folks can do whatever they want to do. Doesn't affect us at all. But it is kinda sad after all, Kinda sad. :( ((hugs))
I dunno why others don't get it. I don't understand it. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out. Being so rigid and unaccepting makes no sense to me. We're friends. So shoot us! We disagree on a lot of things politically but SO WHAT? Why does that mean you can't really like someone anyway? Where is it written that unless you agree you're unworthy of friendship? Weird. Sad . I guess if I ask why I will never get an answer that makes any sense. Can you tell me why m2c? Why is it that some people can only be friends with those who agree with them about everything? I really don't know. Thank you for your reply m'dear! :) You are a great example of a thoughtful Conservative. I have bragged about you to others which I think you know. I just wonder what it
is about how you are wired that is unique and atypical? Anyway thanks sweeite! :) ((hugs))
@DJAM -- We both know a Trump supporter whom we like and respect. We don't understand that person's affinity for Trump, but we're OK with the person otherwise.
I suspect that's because we don't believe the Trump supporter in question shares the racist/xenophobic/White Supremacist views evident in many other Trump supporters, so we see the person's support of Trump as a bit of misguided wishful thinking, not an indication of actual moral noxiousness.
@RosieG -- I'm glad you and m2c have found common ground as a basis for a friendship. That's wonderful. Clearly such situations are possible.
But let me contrast your experience with m2c with a recent experience I had with one of the Usual Suspects.
The topic at hand was a particular piece of gun control legislation (perhaps a proposed assualt weapons ban?). After AGREEING with the Usual Suspect that the proposed law was a bad idea and explaining what I thought reasonable firearms laws would entail (essentially a licensing/registration/insurance framework similar to automobile ownership), the Usual Suspect said, "Well, Commies like you want total gun confiscation, so your proposal is just the first step in that process."
How do you get to mutual respect and friendship from there? I don't see a path. So long as the Usual Suspect is going to substitute his paranoid delusions of what he THINKS I'm all about for what I'm actually all about, there's no accommodation there. He's an idiot and he can go Cheney himself. I wish it were not so. I have expressed the same gun control framework idea to other people who disagree with it, but those people don't demonize me as a STOOPID EBIL COMMIE LIBRUHL for holding that particular view.
The reasons for why my interaction with Usual Suspects seems more common than your interaction with m2c are complex and many books have been written to explain some of those reasons. But there are reason why it happens.
