Have you ever jumped into something and then realized that you have just entered a lion’s den and shut the door? That happened to me a little over a decade ago when I married my beautiful wife. Leaving the single life behind and tying the knot isn’t what I’m talking about. The fact that this Conservative country boy married into a Liberal family was what upset my happy little world. It is said that love is blind and that God has a sense of humor… I would have to agree!
To give you a little background, my in-laws were die-hard Democrats and considered it a sin to vote for anybody other than a Democrat, no matter who was running. My father-in-law was a 20 plus years union member who considered Republicans to be an evil force that needed to be eradicated. Living in liberal L.A. for most of their lives, they had been thoroughly indoctrinated into mainstream liberalism. I knew these things before we got married, as there were many differences between my in-laws and me. You see, I’m a “white” Conservative Protestant country boy marrying into a Hispanic, Catholic, city raised family.
When politics would come up between my father-in-law and myself, we would find ourselves sitting alone within a few minutes. I would bring up the fact that the candidates that he supported voted against what he said he stood for from his Hispanic and Catholic upbringing. He would usually respond with something about keeping his politics and religion separate.
In 2004, my father-in-law accused me of corrupting his daughter when she openly said she had not voted for John Kerry because she did not agree with his views. My beautiful wife took some heat from her dad for awhile over that one, but did not back down for voting against the Democratic party.
In one of our heated political debates, he made the comment that I would never vote for a Democrat because I was a Republican. I gave him a great shock when I told him I had voted for a Democrat many years ago when I was in Louisiana, because the Democrat candidate had views more in line with my own.
Quite a few years have passed since my wife brought home this Conservative country boy, and in the years to follow more of us have shown up. One of my wife’s sisters married a Conservative member of our great United States Army, and she has also crossed over from the “dark side” into the light. Two other of my wife’s sisters are in long term relationships with Conservatives. Last, but certainly not least, is her baby brother, who seems to be leaning towards the Conservative side as well.
There are times that we don’t feel like putting forth the effort or energy to get liberals to see our point because in can be a daunting task. When, and if you get to that point, just remember this old saying;
“Even the mighty oak was once only a nut.”
You might be viewed as a nut by the liberals you encounter, but if you hold your ground, you might be that one “nut” that started an entire forest.
