Reply #4: I have had examples of both extremes in my life... [View All]

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One good friend I have known for 16 years is a NRA-type Republican, very right wing, almost racist sometimes. Yet he has been a very good friend to me, even though he knows I'm liberal - it's weird. I had another friend who was very liberal, but used me endlessly, and was borderline abusive to me - in fact I'm wrong to even call him a friend. These two are exceptions though. I have known plenty or Republican jerks and plenty of wonderful, nice Democrats. There are plenty of people who do fit the "expected" stereotypes. But I have also had plenty of neighbors and acquaintances who are Republicans, yet very polite and caring on a person-to-person basis, and plenty of friends and acquaintances who identify as Democrats or liberals who were insufferable bores or pains-in-the-asses. So I don't think the stereotypes can be applied universally. A person's innate personality can override their political beliefs.