For My Republican Friends and Family

I've been frustrated for awhile now on how to approach this issue, and I saw a video today that really kind of put it in perspective for me, so I'm going to approach this post in two parts.

Let me start by saying that it is really exceedingly difficult for me to hold my tongue and avoid making you feel as bad as you make me feel whenever you gloat about your team winning. My team can't win, but at least my team doesn't get beat up as much when the Democrats are in power. I haven't made this explicitly clear in the past, and I know that I'm too polite most of the time, so I haven't given you the opportunity to know how deeply you are offending me when you start in with your partisanship. Well, I'm telling you now. Every vote for a Republican is a vote to ensure that I leave the country. That's not hyperbole, it's just the truth. With Democrats in charge, there is some small hope that the laws might someday be changed, but with Republicans there is no hope at all. So, when you gloat so that I can see or hear it, what I hear is that you are in favor of us leaving.

I'm not going to ask you to change your voting habits. I'm not even going to ask you not to talk about your team in front of me. I am going to ask that you think about that for at least a millisecond before your joy over your ridiculous team winning causes you to say things in my presence that makes me feel that way.

I am writing this to let you know that every time you have done this, it takes all my will to ignore those comments and try to pretend like they weren't said. The alternative would not be healthy for our relationship and at least so far our relationship has been more important to me than saying what I really want to say. I'm not sure how much longer that will be true. As Alex continues to look for a job, I continue to grow more frustrated and angry that it has to be this way. Republicans, especially the religious ones, are the #1 reason that this is the case today.

So now you know what you've been doing to me. I've not held it against you in the past because there is at least some chance that you haven't realized what your statements implied. Just know that I'm not going to listen to it anymore. Feel free to shout from the rooftops how awesome Republicans are and how horrible Democrats are, but when you do, please take me into consideration. If you can't do that, I'll try not to hold it against you, but I'm no longer going to listen to it. So don't be surprised if our phone call is disconnected in mid-sentence, don't be surprised if I walk away in the middle of a conversation, don't be surprised if I turn off your status updates on Facebook. And don't be surprised if I start saying things to you as mean as the things I am hearing you say.

Now that that is said, I'd like to add one more thing...When you vote for a Republican, you are voting for the attitude displayed in the clip below.



That's right, the Family Research Council thinks I should be in jail. It's not that I shouldn't be allowed in the military, it's that I should be rotting away in a prison. To me, that is the face of the Republican party today. These are the people that drove me away. Until those people are kicked to the curb, don't expect me to have any sympathy for your team. They have caused too much damage in my life for me to ever be on their side.

So, yeah, it's probably better if you just don't talk about Republicans around me, because frankly, you aren't going to make me suddenly support them, and you are just going to make me want to lump you in with that guy in the clip. I don't want to do that to you, but if you talk about it enough, I probably will.

-Andy

P.S. - I still love you