Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
By Judson Cox (02/25/04)
If you are single (which I am), Valentine’s Day is a reminder of just how difficult it is to find the right person. It is particularly difficult if you are conservative. For an example of why, think of the Super Bowl Halftime Show. If you found it offensive, the club scene would equally offend you. Moreover, you probably have little in common with fans of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.
Shared values are essential to forming long-term relationships, but it is difficult to identify people who share your values in a social setting. Politics just aren’t sexy (unless you are Ann Coulter), and they don’t make for good flirtation fodder. You will never find a collection of pick-up lines that includes, “So, what do you think about national defense?”
There are also environmental challenges preventing conservatives from meeting. To begin with, if you are in college, you are pretty much up a certain malodorous creek without a paddle. Not only are most college students liberal, the atmosphere on campus tends to keep conservatives closeted for fear of retribution. You can join the College Republicans, but these groups are often smaller than a Sunday school class in Manhattan.
With each year you remain single after graduation, your odds of marrying become less likely. Much depends on your choice of career; if you go into education, public service, sociology, psychology, journalism or entertainment, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than you are to meet another conservative – much less a single one. You can try to increase your odds by joining political groups; however, conservative groups are usually made up of (married) retired people.
The temptation is to settle for a person who may not share your values. For liberals, there is little danger in marrying a conservative. Conservatives are generally intelligent, well humored, have good work ethics, save and invest, plan for the future and are family oriented. The worst thing liberals have to worry about is that their husband or wife may take their kids to church! For conservatives, the situation is very different. We have to worry that our children may be aborted without our knowledge or consent! Our liberal partners may give our hard earned money to communists, encourage our children to have premarital sex, use drugs, drop out of school, follow pagan religions or become homosexual!
Many conservatives seek unconventional means to meet like-minded singles. Each year, Sean Hannity hosts a “dial-a-date” segment on his Valentine’s Day show. Conservative singles virtually wait in line to introduce themselves to his audience. During the rest of the year, people call conservative talk shows, for advice on how to meet conservative singles. Usually, it is a woman, who (regardless of age) is despondent because the only men she meets, who share her values, are her father’s age. It seems the feminists of thirty years ago were successful, and today’s young women are paying the price – there just aren’t too many John Waynes sauntering across college campuses (except for me, of course!).
Having experienced this dilemma, I was shocked to find that online dating sites for conservatives are few. Online dating is one of the most popular ways for singles to connect in our increasingly Internet oriented culture. The only one I found was www.RepublicanConnections.com, a new website that opened Valentine’s Day of this year. This site is different from non-ideological sites. Firstly, it is exclusive to conservatives. The owner makes every effort to evaluate each member profile and weed out liberals. Secondly, only members can enter the site - which prevents voyeurs. I particularly like the explanation of membership, that explains, “At RepublicanConnections.com, we only accept paid memberships; because, you get what you pay for, and only liberals expect to get something for nothing.”
I predict that RepublicanConnections.com will become a very successful business over the next year – I signed up! The most successful businesses look for needs and fill them; they have done just that. This is capitalism at its finest, and humanitarianism at its most basic level – the family.
For those of you who raised a lone glass in toast to this Valentine’s Day, I wish you well in your search for love. Let us persevere in our quest so that we may not drink alone next year. The greatest hope for our nation is that it will be comprised of strong families, who will raise conservative children. I, for one, think it’s time to start looking for love in all the RIGHT places.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Judson Cox
