Several days ago, my boyfriend jokingly asked me if he voted for Trump, would I break up with him? My answer was yes. He asked, “why should politics matter in a relationship?”
My answer? “Why shouldn’t they?”
To tell you the truth, years ago and in a different political climate, they wouldn’t have. Because it shouldn’t matter. Whether you identify yourself as a Republican or a Democrat, or if you want gun restrictions or gun freedoms. But today, we live in a world where your political identity can either bless you or damn you. In certain circles, if you claim you’re a Republican/Democrat, you’re opening yourself to a whole world of ridicule, criticism, and just plain abuse.
I’m not denying that my political views are filled with inconsistencies, hypocrisies, and biases, but I try my best to avoid these, as everyone should.
A relationship is based on commonalities and trust. Above all, a couple needs to have the same views for the future and it definitely helps to have the same ideals. But political ideals aren’t even ideals anymore. When did “ideals” become basic human decency? When did the “Democrat agenda” become preserving human life and protecting freedom of expression?
I told him I would break up with him if he voted for Trump, and here’s why.
If I were my grandmother, I would have died attempting to cross the border, fleeing from a corrupt, war-torn country. If I had gone to high school 4, even 2 years ago, (in which I attended an almost completely white, rural, small-town high school) I would have been ridiculed and bullied for being what others thought “Mexican.” I would have been told to go back where I came from. If I were a child growing up today, I would think it’s okay for men to say “grab them by the pussy,” and still be adored. If I lived on my own now, I wouldn’t be able to afford to go to the doctor for my chronic illness.
I am not proud to be an American in an America where our rights are more important than other’s lives. I do not want to live in a country that thinks it’s people are better simply because they’ve lived here longer and they’ve had more opportunities. I don’t want to live in an America where people vote for a leader that won’t take away their weapons, won’t make them tear down their confederate flags, and won’t take “no more bullshit” from its people.
If it were just about guns, or immigration laws, or the economy, I wouldn’t care. I’ve never been someone who’s interested in politics. What I am interested in though, is every trans person being denied entry into the armed forces, every immigrant family being torn apart, every person unable to afford health care, and every single woman our leader disgraces by saying what he says without consequences.
If I date someone who supports all of his ideals, what would that make me? If I turn a blind eye to this flaw, this vital flaw, how can I pretend I have everyone’s best interests at heart? I would be no better than those who voted Trump into office, saying “Sure, he’s doing this, but look at all the jobs he’s creating.”
How can I pretend to care when I love someone who doesn’t?
So yes, politics are important. Because they aren’t just politics.