Some Reasons I Am Willing to Interact with Conservatives as a Progressive

Have you ever found yourself interacting with a political opponent and feeling the urge to no longer socialize with them? I certainly have on a number of occasions, but one of the things that I have started to notice is that different conservatives and progressives have all kinds of different perspectives, and many of us do not fit perfectly into one box or the other, which brings me to my first reason listed below for being willing to interact with conservatives even though I am progressive.

Reason 1: there are different levels of conservatism and progressivism. For example, a conservative will probably support limited government. As someone who see benefits in getting government-funded services, I strongly disagree with many conservatives on there small-government approach to services, particularly disability services and healthcare. However, I do not see refusing to interact with people who think that way as the answer. If I refuse to interact with somebody because of that, I feel like I am not helping persuade them to find common ground with me on that topic. Also, even if I choose to interact with a person who thinks like that, they may very well still not be able to change their mind, but even so, that does not mean we do not have common ground on other issues. On the other hand, if a conservative is so far right that they believe gay people should be put in jail for being gay, for example, then that is something I would have a much harder time tolerating. My experience is that the average conservative does not think that way. In fact, some conservatives have no problem with gay people getting married. For instance, according the Pew Research Center, Republicans and Republican leaners, as well as conservative Democrats and moderate Democrats are in favor of allowing such marriages at 44% and 64% respectively (see link below). Basic freedom for gay couples to be able to have the relationships with each other that they choose is highly important to me, so it is great for me when I can find common ground with conservatives on that issue and other social issues of importance to me. Personally, I do not mind if they disagree with such things from their own religious perspective. All I care about is that we have at least some common ground on the civil legality of these things.

https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/

Reason 2: if people respect and tolerate me in spite of our differences, why not do the same for them? I might not be under any obligation to associate with anybody, but is disassociating with such a person the best idea? Probably not. If I am being treated with respect by somebody I have political disagreements with but still choose to refuse to interact with them, I run the risk of making my side look completely intolerant. We do not always need to be completely tolerant of points of view we deem to be toxic, but if I make my side seem intolerant, who from the other side is going to listen to our side? On certain occasions, there have been conservatives who have refused to interact with me due to minor political disagreements, and I do not find that to be productive or good for the image of conservatism. Hence, I do not want to make that mistake for my side.

Reason 3: variety is of highly value to me. I enjoy interacting with a wide variety of people and I also enjoy having civil debates/discussions. Yes, political disagreement can lead to arguments, but arguments are rarely my intention when trying to engage in debates and discussions with my political opponents. Unfortunately, I feel that it is common for debates and discussions to seem like arguments when they are typed in exchanges online, so my preference is to do that face-to-face whenever possible.

Ultimately, it is up to each of use who we interact with. My preference, as expressed above, is to interact with a variety of people with different political perspectives. That way, we can better understand one another and hopefully even find some areas of common ground.