J.J., there is hope for her and you. When I married my hubby in 1995, politics was off-limits by mutual decision. He was/is a Rush-listening conservative (he’s a Vietnam vet as well) and I was a lefty-spewing ranter like your girlfriend. And yet we got married and were very happy.
My enlightment didn’t come for 3 years but it did come thanks to Bill “I did not have sex with that woman” fingerwagging Clinton and everyone who spent a full year deconstructing Bill and his hypocritical supporting feminists and fellow Dems (for me, that was Imus, then Sean, then Rush, in that order, during my long commutes and days off). It was the most uncomfortable year of my life ideologically because I was adrift for 6 months, fighting it tooth and nail. It was also tough because liberalism is easy and involves no thinking. Conservatism is hard. We are challenged every day, multiple times a day. And yet, once we switch we can’t believe we were “over there.” Contrary to Obama and others, we are not “post-partisan.” That is wishful thinking. Humanity is partisan, period. We are an opinionated and categorizing species, as well as tribal, competitive and warlike. Peace and love…yeah, maybe in 1,000 years (in another galaxy far, far away).
Good luck.
