Let's NOT Talk Politics

Romances and politics, oil and water. Yep, they do not mix. Nothing will piss me off faster than a bout of what I call “author possession” in a book. This is when a character is suddenly seized by the author’s political agenda, spouts off a few lines of rhetoric that don’t fit that character’s personality, and then returns to the flow of the story. A few years back, there was a book about a woman’s spiritual journey that was extremely popular. I couldn’t get through the first third of the book, because the author kept throwing in snarky comments about political parties and controversial social justice issues that did not make any sense to me in the context of a true spiritual journey.

But there’s another, more important reason I don’t like to see politics happen in romances. A deeper message is buried in a good love story.

When we read romance, or any great genre story that’s filled with noble heroes/heroines facing personal challenges and striving to make closer connections with one another, we’re getting to the root of who we are and what’s most important to us. A long time ago, when a dear friend and I kept getting into terrible fights over politics, I stepped back and asked myself a question. “If either of us saw an injured dog on a busy highway, what would we do?” The answer was the same. Each would stop and try to do anything we could to help. That’s when it hit me. Politics don’t matter. Who people are, that’s what matters.

I bet if a bunch of people from all along the political spectrum sat down in a room and were asked the same question: “What’s most important to me?,” we’d find the same root answers. Family. Community. Caring for and protecting those we love, helping to make the world a better place and cultivating the best in ourselves. Our political differences merely express our different beliefs in how to make those SAME goals happen. The only time politics matter is when we let them polarize us, and make us forget to see one another as souls in this struggle together, trying to figure out the answers the best way we can.

I often hear readers say a good love story makes them feel better about life, makes them want to be better people. I think that’s because those books focus on the qualities we want to have, and the desires we all have, and brings them together in a life-affirming way.

It’s easy to hate and talk trash about politicians, celebrities or people we don’t know personally, whose motives are tried by sensationalism-driven media machines. But I’m a big fan of the saying, “The microcosm IS the macrocosm.” In short, who my neighbors and family are, how we reconcile our differences and learn to solve problems together, is no different than how it can work at any other level, if we don’t let the white noise distract us. It would be great if we’d just shut off that machine and start solving our problems at both the community and higher levels in the same way. Tolerance is a two-way street, and it requires eyes, ears and hearts to remain open, and true dialogue to happen.

Like in a romance, good communication, trust and patience are often the most successful way to a happily-ever-after.

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Want to know my favorite movie of all time about resolving differences? Friendly Persuasion, with Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire. Oh, and a very young and sexy/broody Anthony Perkins - pre-Psycho! Wonderful flick, set during the Civil War.