General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I can't believe how much my family has changed after being brainwashed by the GOP. [View all]SpankMe
(2,957 posts)My wife of 25 years has joined the NRA this year - even though we don't own guns and have never even discussed or thought about guns. Guns aren't a part of our lives in any way, and they never have been.
I said she joined the NRA simply because they are one of the most caustic anti-Obama organizations out there that isn't aligned with the KKK. She said no, that wasn't it. She said she's "...genuinely concerned about everybody's second amendment rights...". After 25 years. All of a sudden.
Ever since her mother moved here 5 years ago (very conservative, passes around those poison RW emails) my wife has moved far right on almost every issue. We don't talk politics any more. I now have to sneak Rachel Maddow on the Internet - I can't watch it on TV any more because it starts fights.
She's used to be concerned about animal rights, the environment. She volunteered at the zoo and was impressed at how the air quality had improved in the L.A. area when we lived there.
Now, she decries all environmental regulation as "job killing" and we haven't been to a zoo or aquarium in years. She says they're left wing propagandists with their pro-environmental message.
And my mom - who has been a left leaner all her life - has suddenly become an anti-government zealot who thinks no one in government bureaucracy is any good. She, like many of us, has been disenchanted with overly zealous bureaucrats who hold up your housing permit or business permit and the like. Fine. But, now, no one in any station of government - from the DMV clerk to the NOAA meteorologist, can do any good. She's still progressive in many street-wise ways. But, there are now subjects we have to stay away from when politics comes up. And, up until now, I've been able to talk to her about anything.
The current flavor and tone of the conservative movement is altering family relationships nationwide - and in a bad way.