I spent some time thinking about things this weekend, and have been struggling with why I just don't want to talk to my family since January 6th. I'm just not wanting to engage with them at all. They are still supporting the same Republican policies they were supporting on January 5th when I could look past it and keep in contact. None of my family have said anything on social media or to me directly that makes me believe they were in favor of the insurrection, and I suspect all of them would be against the events of the 6th if I asked them. And until this weekend I couldn't figure out why that wasn't enough.
But I think I've figured it out. Republicans have had some pretty terrible policy ideas for awhile now. What seems to be new is that when given the choice between candidate A and candidate B, both providing the same basic terrible policy ideas, Republicans as an electorate choose the candidate that is the objectively worse human being of the two choices. Do I want the guy under indictment to be my AG or the guy not under indictment to be my AG? Do I want the guy yelling for tort reform who only started yelling for it after he got his, or do I want the guy yelling for tort reform just out of general principle? Do I want the serial adulterer and liar who is so transparently lying that he has absolutely no credibility or do I want the guy who is better at obfuscating his lies and cheating, or maybe even the one who does his best not to lie and cheat? Do we want the supreme court nominee that had a credible witness claiming she was raped by him or do we want another SCOTUS nominee with the same bonafides minus the rape? All of these terrible humans they've put in power had an opponent in the primary. Most of those opponents agree on the main topics of the day. Why do Republicans always choose the worst human when given the choice?
I'm discovering I don't want to have a relationship with my family not because I don't like their policy positions, but because I no longer trust them to be a good judge of character, and therefore I don't see how we can have anything at all in common, and I sure can't trust their advice on how to conduct my own life.
It was a depressing thought process, but I feel much better now, because at least I understand where my problem is coming from. Now I at least know how to focus whatever conversations I'm going to have with them about this.