A Relationship in Recovery from Politics

Yahoo News asked voters to share stories about relationships gone sour during the election -- and how they're working to mend fences. Here's one person's story.

FIRST PERSON | The end of the presidential election is a wonderful thing for my relationship.

My boyfriend Ramon and I are both 21, and from Philadelphia, and we had different views throughout the presidential race. I supported Obama and he supported Romney.

We didn't necessarily disagree on every issue, but we most certainly disagreed on which candidate was best qualified to lead the United States. We usually avoided talking about politics, but there were some inevitable quarrels as Election Day inched closer. Most of the arguments were short-lived, minor bouts that usually ended with an agreement to disagree; however, there were a couple that worked us both up.

Just two days before Election Day, Ramon and I were talking over dinner, when the mood suddenly shifted. The conversation went something like this:

I was telling Ramon how tired I was from work and school, and he said, "You wouldn't have to work as hard if we had a president that can fix this economy."

I felt annoyed and replied, with an obvious attitude, "And who would that man be? Mitt Romney, advocate of outsourcing U.S. jobs?"

"He has business experience. You don't get that wealthy without a good business plan! And we need a man with a good plan to bring us out of this mess, so that people like you can work hard and get ahead," he said.

"If we lived 50 years ago I wouldn't have the option to work like this. I don't care if I'm exhausted, because it means that I can do what I want with my life! I don't want Romney telling me what to do with my body when I'm working this hard to make my own choices. If it was up to him I'd be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen! It's not the '60s anymore and I'm not voting for that silly Republican who wants to live in the past!"

With that I left my dinner and headed to the bedroom.

"Gender issues shouldn't be the basis for a vote!" He yelled after me.

"Neither should the love of money!" I yelled back before slamming the bedroom door. I didn't hear what he said next. We barely spoke the rest of the evening.

After that fight and up until Election Day, we had a pretty short fuse with each other. Luckily, now that the election is over, we're beginning to recover. Just yesterday, we sat down and reasoned that nothing, even our strong political opinions, should make us argue like that. I told him I understood why he felt that way about the economy, and he told me he couldn't blame me for preferring Obama. He even revealed that he ended up voting for Obama as well, after "looking more objectively at Romney's plans." We laughed at the thought of such an intense argument eventually being without reason. Because we're not used to fighting there is still some tension to overcome, but I have no doubt that we will be absolutely fine.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/relationship-recovery-politics-192200346.html

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