Strange Bedfellows

If I went around picking my friends by their politics, life would be dull indeed.  True, there are certain personalities I can't abide,  but generally what makes them obnoxious is their behavior rather than their beliefs. The problem with labels like "Liberal" or "Republican" is that they allow us to trivialize or dismiss those in other camps, when in fact they may be engaging and excellent company and folks with whom we may otherwise have much in common.  This may help to explain how Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy can maintain a genuinely personal friendship that rises above partisan politics (as also, rumor has it, do Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia).  It also explains why I read a number of conservative bloggers whose politics I do not share, and few if any liberal ones. 

So naturally I am delighted that Tigerhawk thought to pass along to me the tidbit that the Instapundit himself is into blacksmithing, saying; "Your politics may differ but something tells me, Tim, that you would hit it off with Glenn Reynolds…"  Absolutely.  I could bond with Alaric the Visigoth over handmade chain mail, though not if he were putting Rome to the torch. This perhaps makes me less doctrinally a Democrat, which is fine by me.  Keep 'em guessing, and the labels get harder to stick.  Then maybe we can move from positions to positive outcomes.  Or at the very least put the party back into Parties.

So I'd love to meet Glenn Reynolds, and talk about what interests we have in common and swap stories about do-it-yourself armor and adventures in home-tanned deer hide.  Maybe even discover that we care about even more momentous things and offer each other a fresh perspective on a shared concern.  Some of the the best diplomatic outcomes have emerged from such relationships among reasonable people with very different world views.  In such cases, familiarity is the antidote to contempt.

Comments

[Tim Abbott]

Dan, I've been enamoured of costume since I was a very young pup, and renaissance faires have seen me cavort in doublet and hose on many an occasion. The deer hide tanning did not produce the desired results the first time around, but I believe I've got the wrinkles worked out. I had my mind set on a pair of leggings, appropriate for Natty Bumpo, and perhaps next years I'll manage it.

[Dan Trabue]

swap stories about do-it-yourself armor and adventures in home-tanned deer hide.

You sure sound like an interesting fella, Tim. Armor? Really? Do you have photos of that or your home-tanned deer hide?

That actually might be something I'd be interested in at some point.

[charlie crystle]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, because here in PA we're trying to get asingle-payer healthcare bill passed, and the key is to get Republican support. So I'm meeting with lots of them and listening. Just listening. Not selling, not debating, just listening.

So far I perceive a different worldview in their positions, but if you go beyond positions you start to learn what values led them to those positions.

I'm a registered Democrat, but I'm finding it hard to stay that way when Democrats won't address healthcare issues head-on, and instead play politics and respond to the powerful few with the bucks.

[GreenmanTim]

It should not have taken you even that long to crack that code, Steve, given that I was very upfront that my personal politics and those of Glenn Reynolds and Tigerhawk are largely different. I wish I could say the same about your cryptic comment, the point of which -aside from a rather dismissive snarkiness - unfortunately eludes me. But perhaps you wished to prove my point that it is easy to trivialize and dismiss those in other camps. Not knowing you personally, I would not presume to say.

[Steve]

In this commentary, you twice referred to "outcomes" instantly letting me know that you're a lib.The outcome pleasing to such is the only principle,.