Fame
Just a note that this post of mine at Dean’s World has made the Daily Roundup for July 29, 2005.
(Ben Stein) Woohoo. Go Kirwin. Go Kirwin. It’s my birthday. It’s my birthday. (/Ben Stein).
Here’s
a link to a story about Conservative cartoons (hat tip Instapundit), "Laughing
at the Left". The article goes beyond cartoons and makes some important
points about the ideological divide. Take for instance this quote:
(Chris "Day By Day") Muir’s girlfriend, the primary model
for one of his characters, “is a total liberal.” As it happens,
the same holds true for Mallard (Fillmore) creator (Bruce) Tinsley, whose
wife is a civil rights lawyer. There’s perhaps a lesson here. “It’s
a funny thing,” Tinsley says. “All her liberal friends are incredulous
that our marriage works, but none of my conservative friends have any trouble
with it at all. They understand you can think differently about things and
still be civil to one another.”
One of my favorite quotes about civility comes from President Gerald Ford "We can
disagree without being disagreeable." It’s a value to live by – most of
the time. I’m a firm believer that it only works when your opponent holds the
same value: when he doesn’t you must roll up your sleeves and open up a
can of Ann Coulter on their ass. That said, I too live in a "Matlin – Carville"
marriage.
Part of it could be the old adage that "opposites attract" – or in
New Age speak "my yang yearns for her yin" (hmm… that doesn’t read
right). When we met 15 years ago she loved the Grateful Dead while I held them
in complete Hardcore Punk contempt (and still do. If I ever end up in Guantanamo
I expect I’ll hear "Wake Of the Flood" and "American Beauty"
until I cracked – which I reckon would take all of 15 minutes). When Jerry Garcia
died my first response was "How did they notice?"
There are serious benefits to a Liberal/Conservative marriage. First and foremost
it keeps both of us from the extremes. If she comes home with some barking moonbat
piece of tripe, I can usually shoot it down before she has wasted too much time
on it or worse, come to believe it herself. Likewise I can sound an idea or
an opinion off her and get her candid take on it before going public with it – thereby applying a level of rigor to what might otherwise have been a stupid
idea or opinion. Secondly we can intellectually spar with one another, thereby
keeping our ideas fresh and perhaps even (gasp) changing them. Finally, when
we’re together we can handle issues and situations using our different perspectives.
Because of her liberal nature she can be much more open with salesmen than I
can be. If the salesman takes advanatage of her openness, I can step in and
bitch-slap him into submission without any regard for his feelings or the validity
of his opinions. Needless to say the "Good cop – Bad cop" routine
comes in quite handy when dealing with disputes with retailers and service providers.
Then there’s parenting. Here the roles flip: I’m as free with money
for The Kid as the Carter Administration was with taxpayer money for welfare
moms. The Wife, on the other hand, is the motherly personification of the Graham-Rudman
Act. Ever had to justify buying a $3 pack of Yu-gi-oh cards for a kid that
already has hundreds? I have. With a Daddy Decision The Kid always knows
there is the Mommy Court of Appeals – and she is all too happy to exercise her
judicial perogative and overturn my decisions. Mommy establishes precedent and
there is a strong stare decisis in The House. Daddy, being the liberal
parent he is, has no sense of the importance of precedent so often finds himself
overruled.
There is a definite positive dynamic in our family that is based on our differences
and it works for us. I am sure all relationships don’t have to be of the "Matlin – Carville" type to be successful, but
the article points out some interesting reasons why such relationships are
more stable than you might expect. It also makes some important points about
humor – but I’ll have to leave that for another time.
