I had an interesting conversation with my father-in-law last night. The conversation went very well, but I need your help to finish it. Before I go on, let me describe the context:
- He is a retired physician, my mother-in-law a retired (private school) teacher
- They are affluent by most definitions of that word, but don’t live that way.
- When I married his daughter nearly 17 years ago, both he and his wife voted Republican
- The combination of my constant input to the insanity of the GOP’s politics and the witnessing of that insanity has made it so the last two presidential election cycles, they have voted for Obama.
- Regardless of that, they voted for Proposition 8 in 2008.
- They don’t understand why we need to reform our immigration laws.
- He is very much open to influence and persuasion (meaning: he isn’t an ideologue)
- We never yell about politics, but we don’t always agree. They are the kind of conversations you wish you could have with your weird Uncle Joe from Fresno who is a Tea Party and NRA member
So last night was my daughter’s 14th birthday and she wanted to have her grandparents over for dinner (they’re very close). As normal, I’m sitting next to my father-in-law. Near the end of the meal, we start talking about the stock market (I work as an investment advisor for a Wall Street firm…this topic ALWAYS comes up), the fiscal cliff, etc, and as you might assume, the discussion quickly moves into politics.