It's only temporary.

I didn't see it coming. At all.

I've detailed before (not in this space, but in a previous venture that is no longer linkable) my "friendship" that went down in flames before the 2000 presidential election. A quick recap:

Back in 2000, I had a female friend whom I had known for about three years through an old convenience store job I had. She wasn't a particularly close friend; in fact, time and distance brings me a near-hesitation to even use the word "friend." Granted, she was someone I would have crossed the street to say hello to if I saw her. (Is that the line between friendship and acquaintanceship? Your call. I'll use the word "friendship" from this point forward in this post.)

Our friendship grew in the years following my termination from the C-store gig. I'd see Liz in clubs; we'd usually buy each other a drink or two and make small talk about whatever band was playing. I believe she was a lesbian, and I was dating my future wife at the time, so everything was completely above board.

It all fell apart over drinks one night in the runup to the 2000 presidential election (Gore v. Bush). We were sitting together in a bar in Bloomington, and there was something on TV regarding the election. She asked me for my thoughts about it, and I casually mentioned that I was voting for Bush - unaware that making such a statement meant that that conversation would be our last.

She looked at me with incredulity, then started in on the reasons why she wasn't voting for Bush, including the "village idiot" argument, the "not-qualified-for-city-dogcatcher" argument, and the "women's rights will be destroyed" argument.

I deftly picked apart her arguments as well as my beer-soaked mind would allow: "He is *not* the village idiot! He would, too, be qualified for city dogcatcher if he were running! He will *not* destroy women's rights!" All the while, I tried to make it clear that I wasn't holding her views against her as a human being - I don't know how much clearer I could have made it.

I had just grasped onto the "culture of life" ideal that Bush put forth during the campaign, because I thought that was pretty awesome, and I began to relay that to Liz.

None of this swayed her, though, and she looked at me like a lover scorned. "You can't be serious!"

"I am." And I was.

She got up and went somewhere else in the bar to drink, away from me. I tried to dissuade her.

"Wait, where are you going? Just because ... I ... *sigh*"

That was the last time we spoke. I'm not even aware that I ever did see her again after that.

*****

I thought that my last encounter with Liz was an aberration, that she was just a woman who believed that I was something different from what I was, even though I never presented myself any differently to my knowledge. I don't really know what she thought I was, but I apparently turned out to be a conservative in liberal's clothing. Which, to her, was not something she wanted or needed in her life.

It's sad, really. She saw me as a decent, kind, wonderful, caring human being on the surface, until the "R" word passed from my lips, and then I became Instant Evil. I suppose being a conservative is an anathema to all of those warm fuzzy concepts.

Part of me wonders if she just had a lot more invested emotionally in her causes than I did in mine. That's not to say that I even had any causes at the time, nor do I now. Being a conservative might be a part of who I am ... but I don't think it defines me totally. (Does it?) I'm pretty ambivalent about a lot of political things - yeah, I believe that conservatism is the correct path that this country should take, but if it doesn't? The sun will still come up tomorrow, and as long as I wake up breathing, I don't think that a Supreme Court decision or a political campaign will define what kind of day I have.

Naively, I believed that this was how most of the rational world operated.

*****

I didn't see it coming. At all.

I should have known that my last encounter with Liz would be a harbinger of things to come. The political discourse in this country has taken a turn for the ugly in the years since Bush's election and re-election.

I'm really tired of reading about how if:

(a) Conservatives are evil, and
(b) I am conservative,

then therefore it follows that (c) I am evil.

(Let it also be known that I'm not particularly enamored with the thought process that says, "Liberals are anti-American" ---> "You are liberal" ---> "Therefore, you are anti-American." I'll grant, though, that I'm not as offended by that conclusion since I'm not a liberal. Still sucks, though, to be painted with such a wide brush.)

I think that people on both sides tend to forget that all of this is temporary. By "this," I mean not only the current Administration, the current Congress, the current makeup of the Supreme Court - but also life. (I will also grant that, if terrorists have their way, life would be a lot more temporary, and I'm willing to give this President the benefit of the doubt to make that outcome less likely. Some people, alas, aren't so willing.)

But in the end, the sun will still rise in the east tomorrow, and if you wake up breathing, that's a hell of a sight better than the alternative.