When you live in a town full of - fill in the blank (racist, party)

[mistygrl092]

You may be a conservative or liberal, but how many of you have lived in a place where everyone is what you're not? I find it to be a tough thing to do. I've joined meetup groups that are what I am, but they are few and far between here and never seem to have a meetup scheduled. I've also joined Toastmasters and just got tired of the anti my party comments in that group. IOW, I have tried to put myself out there but there are few of me and my politics here. And I can keep my mouth shut (well, except on CD ), but invariably there are those who will not.

I find that those of the opposite persuasion hold such different core values from me that the friendship ends anyway. I guess this is accentuated given the crappy economy. Case in point - I received a racist and anti my party email the other night and that was the final straw for me. I'd warned this person before that for the sake of our friendship not to send this stuff on to me. There was an element of hypocrisy to it as well, and that has never set well with me.

Anyway, have you experienced this and how do you deal with it? I know people will say it doesn't matter, but I've come to realize the importance of associating with like-minded people.

[Calvinist]

You mean because I'm a conservative living among libs? Honestly...it's not something to get worked up over. I have discussions daily with a co-worker who is Austrian...he thinks socialism is a good thing. We have some great arguments...but we shake hands and get along.

[Rhenzanite]

I live in an area that is pretty much split down the middle. We have a University where most of the people are quite liberal, plus we have a lot of 'liberal' laws, like no public smoking and no drive throughs allowed. On the other hand, we have a HUUUUGE rural area where people are mostly conservative with a lot on the fringe right side of it...lots of churches and whatnot as well.

For the most part though, everyone gets along which is really nice. I don't think I'd feel comfortable living in a majority liberal or a majority conservative area.. I like a nice balance of the two.