Life in a big city: No walk in the park for conservatives and libertarians

Time to take the truth to the center of blue America.

My audience likely largely knows that Mr. Sour Patch and I relocated from where Timcast is located after we left the company. What you may not know is that we moved to a large east-coast city which, obviously, means it leans heavily left. (Someone tell me why this always happens in cities; I think people are not biologically suited to live so close together, but someone pointed out to me that living in a city removes autonomy and increases dependency on government and trust of social systems, which makes sense, too).

I’m excited for this change of scenery, but I’m also intimidated. It’s hard enough to feel like everyone around you is watching you and judging you when, say, you are inexperienced with driving in downtown traffic or don’t know how subway systems work. I used to be terribly shy and sensitive to other peoples’ judgments of me, and that has somewhat calcified into a mild form of misanthropy. But now, I think, it’s time to temper that tendency, because I suspect what’s needed to bridge the divides between left and right at this point is more humanity, not less. I’m trying very hard to smile at people, and people have already been magnanimous and helpful to us. I have yet to venture out and meet people freely (this is only our first day here and I’m still bogged down with unpacking), but I absolutely do plan to. In fact, part of my plan for being here is to visit businesses and ask them if they’d be interested in joining the PublicSquare app listing. I think doing this will prove beyond a doubt that conservatives, libertarians, and moderates are not as isolated as the mainstream media needs us to believe we are. There have always been mixes of people with disparate viewpoints in the US, and what’s made it so great is that there is room for all ideas in this great country. You may call me a dreamer, to quote the questionable John Lennon, but I believe that in order to escape our current cultural shift and stagnation, we have to put in the work to make the world around us as reasonable and decent as possible.

Part of my plan for bridging these divides is nothing short of sneaky: I intend to be as pleasant, helpful, and charming as humanly possible and only later springing on people that I’m ALSO a conservative, hopefully shifting their views of the right by giving them an anecdote. My husband points out that when left-leaning people learn his views, they often tell him that “he’s the exception”, which is a viewpoint that I’m not sure one person can sway. Certainly not everyone will change their mind if they accidentally befriend a conservative, but speaking as a relationship-oriented woman, this would help my view immensely. I treat the views of all my more liberal friends with great respect, and make a point of focusing more on what we have in common than on what we disagree on. Historically this has worked well for me – but those friends are admittedly from a more conservative part of the country. I have high hopes for befriending people here, however. Although I still feel the unsocialized effects of my home-schooled upbringing, I know I’m a great, reliable friend, although too quick to lose track of those I care about.

I don’t think the solution for America is for conservatives and moderates to voluntarily separate ourselves, controversial as that might be on the right. Sure, it might be easier (and frankly safer) to live away from people who vote for what seem apparent to us to be backwards policies, but some people can’t move. Some people have family ties. Some people have budget restrictions that force them to live in cities. For some, it’s all they’ve ever known. I truly believe that if the city is not fully beyond saving (like LA, in my opinion) but is seeing progressivism among some of its denizens, the best course of actions is to be there, and to be good examples of sanity. We counter lies with truth, skepticism with friendliness, and hatred with humanity. It’s the only way forward.

At the end of the day, I think conservatives have an advantage when it comes to the big cities because they know what they’re getting into. And I DON’T think conservatives need to feel lonely, because while conservatives in blue places are quiet, they’re still present. Finding them might be the hard part: Stay tuned for that.