Monday, August 25, 2008
That's silly
I know a not inconsiderable number of people who’ve been divorced in recent years and report that political disagreement wasn’t just an issue, it was the main issue. I haven’t found any statistics on this, but my anecdotal experience is that a larger number of my acquaintances report significant marital stress over politics, especially in the years beginning around the 2004 election. The widening of the political divide seems very real, and it affects some people on the most personal level of all.
My wife and I have been cancelling each other's votes out for years. You have to have some serious identity issues to let our politics ruin your marriage.
4 Comments:
By 
Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Aug 25, 12:53:00 PM:
I'm not married, never have been. But, a man's political views will be a factor in whether or not I would consider him a candidate for "Mr. Right". A lot of my values also tend to be the values typically viewed as Republican, and shared values, I think, is an important part of a successful marriage...
By Andrew Hofer, at
Mon Aug 25, 01:00:00 PM:
Fair enough, but this is about divorce, not dating. Presumably there were enough shared values to get married in the first place.
A fair amount of political argument is about *how* you get there, not the actual desired end state. Abortion would be one of the exceptions.
Generally, my wife and I want the same things for society. We just disagree on a) the means and b)which issues dominate the voting decision.
And our *personal* values are very compatible. But we knew that from four years of dating.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Aug 25, 05:07:00 PM:
My point is, because I take these views into consideration during dating, I doubt political differences would be a cause of divorce, if I were ever to find myself in that position. Whenever I might get married, I plan to stay that way, barring some very serious issues (like abuse) arising. I don't plan on going into it with the "Well, if it doesn't work out, there's always the option of divorce" attitude - that's just setting yourself up for failure, I think.
By 
, at
Mon Aug 25, 09:49:00 PM:
As I sit out here reading this conservative blog, my wife is in watching the Democratic Convention.
We have the same values that we want to instill in our kids. Those are not dependent on politics, and I'm glad we both know it.
