Thanksgiving: How to Discuss Politics — If You Must

The left likes to mock “your crazy Fox News-watching uncle,” who may be at Thanksgiving, but what about your crazy aunt who’s wearing two masks, has a crocheted Anthony Fauci pillow, and demands everyone use “proper pronouns”? How do we deal with her?

Here are some quick tips, from experience, for debating politics at the holiday table.

1. Do not have them — political debates, that is.

2. If you’re forced to, ask well-intentioned, honest questions, which may help lead others toward your conclusion since they must explain their views. Don’t have useless debates about whose policies or politicians are worse.

3. Do not use straw man arguments. Argue with facts, challenge their premise, and then present solutions over their emotion and faux compassion.

4. Frame the discussion in a way that helps them understand your core beliefs since most on the left have no idea what conservatives believe.

5. Be a happy warrior. Laughing and even self-deprecating is often the best way to end testy debates with family.

Think about how often we encounter progressives who do not understand why we believe what we do and instead just assume we’re malevolent. If left-wingers understood what conservatives wanted, the debate might not end, but it likely would not be so full of knee-jerk demonization.

America will always honor and give thanks for the Pilgrims. https://t.co/15kEAsyC0h

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 23, 2021

If you need a few talking points:

•We want a free market because it offers a level playing field and gives people the best opportunities to thrive.

•We want voter ID because one person gets one vote, and the system should assure that someone isn’t voting multiple times.

•We want a strong military because that is more likely to prevent wars, not start them.

•We want to spend less because the national debt is destroying the country’s future and eating up a massive chunk of the federal budget.

•We want school choice because we trust parents to make the best decisions for their kids and, unlike most Democrats, dislike seeing children trapped in failing school systems.