Last week my husband Sam and I hit it off with another couple on a cruise vacation. Let’s call them Jim and Karen. At first we thought we might become fast friends and keep in touch. Then the subject turned to politics.

It’s not what you think. Jim and Karen are registered Republicans, not Democrats. They like Trump for president, but it seems there are many conservatives who do. Sigh…

What first made my eyes roll was Jim’s statement that Obama is a good guy who, in the course of trying to do the right things, has made some mistakes along the way. Uh huh.

But I completely wrote off Jim and Karen as potential chums when Jim said that he’d vote for Biden over a non-Trump Republican if Biden were to get the Democratic nomination. Karen emphatically agreed!

Jim followed up this all-too-common nonsense among our fellow “conservatives” with, “I vote the individual, not the ticket!” Karen nodded her approval.

Please pass the Advil.

Yes, I chose not to become friends because of Jim and Karen’s annoying political naivete. I won’t defend that choice and may even be willing to admit it is wrong-headed. But Sam and I have so many Democrats in our lives — our long-time friends and virtually the entire roster of both our families — that we can hardly stomach the prospect of adding more morally confused “progressive sympathizers” to our cast of pals and acquaintances. It is what it is.

I have known many conservatives who register as Independents or Republicans, and who take great pride in “reaching across the aisle” when they cast a ballot. They seem to believe it makes them look discerning and intelligent. And maybe it does look that way to others like themselves who are in fact dangerously ignorant.

Jim and Karen fail the informed voter test on almost every count. They fail to see that progressive policies are solely and wholly to blame for almost everything that is wrong in today’s America. They appear to know nothing of Obama’s background, ideology, and tactics, or choose to ignore them. They may not even be aware of the media bias that has twisted the entire narrative in this country.

Disclaimer: I am aware that I sound like a pompous know-it-all. The truth is, I know I am far from it — a know-it-all, that is. But at least I am well informed enough to avoid voting against my own principles and best interest. I also know that my “informedness” comes at significant sacrifice of my leisure time, as I devour fifteen or twenty political commentaries each day while working full time and writing theater reviews on the side for a local throw-away. I can’t expect that of every Jim and Karen out there. Still…

Still, rather than seek my assistance to become more informed, the Jims and Karens of the world would rather argue against my factual statements using the, at best, partially true and, at worst, completely erroneous sound bites they hear on the prime time network news or NPR.

What Jim and Karen most importantly fail to realize is that the days of constructive compromise, “reaching across the aisle,” and “voting the individual, not the ticket” are over. They have been for at least twenty years. That is the case not only because the two sides are irreconcilably divided. But they are divided on the most crucial aspect of all — the fundamental values upon which our society is based. There simply is no room for compromise or “moderation.”

Do you believe in the Judeo-Christian values upon which this country was founded? If so, you will vote for almost any Republican over virtually any Democrat. Any other choice belongs to the past. (My qualifiers “almost” and “virtually” allow for a Republican to vote for, say, Democrat Joe Lieberman over Republican Pat Buchanan in a match-up so unlikely that it would never occur anyway.)

On the other hand, if you believe those values are outmoded, that the same can be said for our Constitution and other founding documents, that government is there to take care of us, and that liberty means the freedom to silence the opposition, then you will certainly vote for the Democrat over any Republican. And in that event, in the words of Samuel Adams, “may your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”