That's the kind of exchange the Powers That Be don't like very much. When people connect one-on-one, we tend to find more similarities than differences, and we tend to find ways to overcome and overlook the differences in the pursuit of finding ways we can each benefit from our similarities. That bugs the living heck out of authoritarians. But that's how actual people get on in life, and how we all get things done together.

This reminded me of a 1964 Art Buchwald column I read as a boy. It was titled "Take a Loser to Lunch." (You can find it in the Google newspaper archives.) It was a bit more tongue in cheek than this column, but the concepts of talking out differences after an election were similar...and who would have remembered that threats to move to Canada if the "other guy" won go back to at least 1960. Thanks for the column and the memory, Jon.

While this exact scenario may be rare, similar ones happen on a daily basis. I have yet to meet someone who stopped being friends with someone solely due to their political beliefs or how they voted. One just has to look at voter turnout to see that politics aren't the most important thing in many people's lives.

I don't want to blame Mr Tevlin personally but a lot of this so called political divide is driven by the media. Let's face it, after sex the biggest selling thing is violence. It doesn't have to be physical violence; it can verbal such shouting, arguing or even calling someone a "low-life scumbag." Proof of this is that that was one of very few articles this paper published about Ellison's reelection.

Now that the election is over, all the but the die hard politicos will go on with their lives, continuing to be friends with people who have different political views.

We can disagree without being disagreeable. Or at least, we should be able to. Unfortunately, we are continuing to move the opposite direction. I wish people understood that our founding fathers did not set this country to make it easy to get things done. They built in checks and balances. They wanted no branch to have more control than the others. Prez, Senate, Legislature, Supreme Court. They didn't set things up to be easy, they set them up to be difficult, as a lot of thought should go into the big decisions of our country. We are designed to have debates. This will never change. But our founders thought we could do this in a civil manner, not the manner that we see today. You can either be part of the problem or part of solution.

Way to "reach across the aisle," Tev. Every politico is talking that these days, but I don't see many of them doing it. ("Reach across the aisle" seems to be this decade's phrase, like "unindicted co-conspirator" of the mid-70s.) And when one politico does try to reach, the others seem to view it as a sign of weakness.

I commend Mr. Tevlin for getting out from behind his monitor, out of his office (or cube?), and out into the community to spend time with none other than a detractor. Way to go! I would count myself in the detractor camp as far as many of this column's opinions go, but I appreciate real dialogue, repartee, and people who can handle an opposing view point (at least an intelligent one) without getting bent out of shape. The "comments" following many columns and articles are often no more than angry, off-topic, and inconsiderate rants. Thanks for paying attention to those who may not agree with you but keep the criticisms civil!

The problem with politics is that is has now become a sporting event. The objective is to WIN. There is no compromise, no one likes a tie. It is all or none. Until that mentality is erased, nothing with change. We can blame our upbringing...from virtually day 1 we are exposed to winner and losers. No one ever suggests that middle of the road is okay.

Wow - a civil discussion among adults! What a novelty now. I agree with the other posters, plus a lot is driven by the convenience of impersonal electronic communication tools (like this one!). People are not computers & need to interact on a personal basis. We need to reduce the amount of electronics in our lives. Not eliminate - reduce. Let's start now.