What is flip-flopping? Thirty plus years ago I told my girlfriend, Helaine, I’d never get married. Marriage, I said, didn’t appeal to me.
My views changed.
Is that flip-flopping? No says I, the potential floppee. I matured (a little). My opinions changed. I was wrong and realized it.
Isn’t this the normal progression of life? Many more of us want to be firemen or cowboys at age 7 than 27. We haven’t flip-flopped. We’ve matured.
So, it was weird seeing this Republican National Committee tweet before tonight’s Democratic debate.
What exactly is their point?
Over the last twenty years most of us (not all of us) have come to the conclusion gay marriage is fine. It was not always my opinion. It was not always a consensus opinion. It is now.
Pew Research surveyed Americans in 2001 and found support for gay marriage at 35%. Now it’s 55%. Opposition went from 57% to 39%
Did we all flip-flop or are we progressing in our opinions?
The takeaway from the RNC’s illustration is, opinions should never change. The RNC is proud to be intransigent.
My guess is they’ll be seen as being on the wrong side of history.
I think some people consider it flipping if the flipper was so adamant about their original viewpoint then when their viewpoint changed, gave no indication as to why.
I think if you give an honest reason as to why your viewpoint changed, people will respect you for it.