quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
It’s generally impossible to have friends who call themselves “liberal” because if they are in fact leftists, as they probably are and were the people that the original question referred to, they are also probably not liberal in the real sense of that word.

Yeah, I understand.

There's a reason why they bastardize the language to make words mean the opposite of what people have always understood them to mean. Leftist control is not liberal; it's the opposite. It's tyranny. Tyranny doesn't sell very well, unless you call it something else.

Affordable Care Act
Inflation Reduction Act

I have friends and family from all over the political spectrum. They are good and thoughtful people who usually see politics in shades of grey. The ones I've encountered who see things as absolutely black or white are often jerks and I usually don't give them the time of day.

I have distanced/eliminated real-life, in-person relationships with anyone that does not align with my political, social, or religious beliefs.

Life is way to damn short to pretend to care or bite my lip when they open their yaps.

I gain nothing from having them around.

They can do their thing and I will do mine.

My quality of life is much better because of it.

Have a few, we don't talk politics, if they bring it up I just remind them that "we don't do that" if one of them persisted I'd start removing them slowly, so far it's not been a problem.

My friendships don't revolve around politics. There are so many other subjects to discuss. Shared interests or fellowship need not be burdened with political discourse. My beliefs will piss off those on the right or the left and possibly both at the same time depending on the issue. A litmus test for maintaining a relationship would disqualify just about everybody if I listed even 10 issues and decided one or two faults were enough to walk away.

At this point in my life, I really don't have friends. I've never really had many friends at any given time but the last close friend I had is now an annual talk on the phone. To be clear, a friend is someone I would consider to be like a brother, we'd die for each other, take a bullet for each other, give our last dollar to each other. Others are acquaintances - spend time together, have fun, but not necessarily someone to entrust each other's life's with. I largely have acquaintances now.

I've removed all progressives, family or acquaintance, from my life. These are people I consider corrupt and/or irrational. People who would vote for KH, O, B and the like. People that would have my lose my job over a jab. People that would prioritize illegals over citizens. Pal's over Israelis. DEI over merit. Etc.

I would still engage with historically 'normal' democrats - bias toward democratic policies but rational and aligns right of center depending on the topic.

But I don't have time or desire for anybody left of that. If you would have me lose my job and livelihood over a dangerous jab, you have no place in my life whether we talk about politics or not.

I have many democrat friends. Some of them are liberals and some of them are more conservative than they like to admit. Most of them are transplants from up north. The women (if it is a couple) are always a good bit more liberal than the man. Generally, these are my neighbors who share a lot of values with me, otherwise.

I talk politics with many of them, but pretty much only the men. The women tend to think less critically and don’t see other viewpoints as well. The guys can have civil discussions with humorous, friendly barbs. They are generally well educated and well informed, just disagree on some key issues.

Zero.

I have friends that are democrats, but none are liberals. There is a difference.

Liberals only want to serve their religion, liberalism. And their belief system requires that non-believers be forced to their way of thinking. Even if it means by a government gun.

Liberalism is the same as any other violent extremism. I won’t be around that and have nothing to gain from it.

I won’t force my beliefs on anyone else. Liberals can’t say the same.

Yes, they know to not discuss politics with me, same thing with my republican friends honestly. I do not suffer their delusions of power and the wisdom to weld it.

I like a person because I like them. Not everything is political. If the subject of politics comes up, I keep it lighthearted and I don't argue.

People who make everything overtly political- I don't like such people and therefore they cannot be my friend. Other than people like that, you're missing out if you write off every one whose politics is not the same as yours.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I like a person because I like them. Not everything is political. If the subject of politics comes up, I keep it lighthearted and I don't argue.

People who make everything overtly political- I don't like such people and therefore they cannot be my friend. Other than people like that, you're missing out if you write off every one whose politics is not the same as yours.

This is a lot of.how things are with the friends I posted on pg 1. We rarely talk politics & all get along fine.
A political disagreement isn't going to immediately spoil 30 years of friendship.
Neither rants & raves about any of it when we're all together, so it's never an issue.

Despite flipping left, he called me a while back for some handgun advice. Told him he should have never sole the stainless S&W 1911 he bought for a steal [or should've sold it to me]
Think he bought a G19 or maybe a 45 & his wife still has her G19.

I have one very close friend that is a leftist but not full blown TDS, commie piece of shit. Some subjects I’ve won him over (guns) but others it’s hopeless. When he was local to me, he would drop everything if you called and were in need. Good guy, just not entirely logical.

My little sister is Lefty looney.
My older sister is Right as far as you can get.
I've got to deal with these gals, 60 and 72!
I just walk my line and listen to both, but hearing my older sister is easier.

I would say I have a lot of friends ( none real close) of which I don’t know how they lean politically. Just hasn’t come up, and don’t plan on bringing it up myself either.
Almost everyone I have close contact with on a regular basis ( friends and acquaintances) come from just 3 sources - work, my VFW post and my gun club or shooting activities, and so far in those circles I have not come in contact with any far left people.
I do have some old acquaintances from back east I interact with on line only and some of them shocked me with how liberal they are ( one is another health professional who works in ER which usually quickly jades you from leftists ideology but for some reason he is all in?, another is a retired army sergeant major of all things!)
While most of my interaction with patients is in a right leaning community, we do get a lot of people from a community known for affluent hippies and I just stick to the medical care in those circumstances

By the grace of God, I have no liberal friends. Unfortunately, there are liberals on both my wife's side and mine as well. I avoid any discussion of politics with them as much as possible. It never goes well.

Well our daughter has a raging case of TDS and once again is not speaking to her mother or I. Our oldest son is a leftist but know how far he can push. Youngest is a rational anarchist and fiscal conservative.

I have acquaintances from all walks of life and all political spectrums. My core principles are pretty libertarian in nature so I don't care about what the liberal ones do as long as they don't want to force their beliefs on me. One in particular, I stop by his place for coffee on an intermittent basis and we talk about deer hunting and salmon fishing and how great it is to be old men who still get shit done.

I have two close friends that suffer from TDS. One is like a daughter to us, after Trump won in 2016 we agreed on no politics. The other is a friend that, again, we don't do politics. He's stayed at my house a few times and is courteous enough not to mention my Trump stuff.

I was FB friends with a very interesting fellow from Austria, our connection was a love of Utah. He's a total, leftist nut case. A couple of months ago I called him out on his lies and he banned me from his posts. The other friend mentioned above is an avid follower of this clown.

I have no liberal friends that I know of. Who knows though if some people are closet libs? I hang out with my conservative family, my christian friends, and my gun enthusiasts at the range.

I split my living between Florida and MA.

In MA, we are outnumbered 2 to 1 in FL; since I am in a gated community, it is even worse as there are more transplants from NY and NJ.

Most of my friends are deep red, but a few died-in-the-wool blue people.

I rarely ever discuss religion or politics.

I went to school in the late 80s in Colorado with a bunch of people that were mild laid back hippies at the time but are hard left now. Most of them live in Boulder, Colorado or California. I like them and keep up with them on facebook and occasional reunions. I KNOW how smart they are but they are infected with significant TDS. In the last few weeks they all posted their "I support Ukraine" flag and raged about deportation. I don't talk politics with them.

I spend 50% of my time in Oklahoma, the reddest of red states. It's really nice to go to dinner with groups here, right political opinions are freely expressed. The friends I work to keep up with and have made the last 30 years pretty much lean right to hard right.