How do you feel about maintaining a friendship with a Republican?

[spooky3]

A Republican in another city contacted me after the election, said he'd voted for Obama, and wanted to renew the friendship. I haven't talked to him in a long time, but thought I'd try emailing for awhile and see how it went. He's got a lot of good qualities. But sorry to say, the vote seemed to be based more on "inspiration" than on values and there is conflict over some pretty fundamental things - some things haven't changed as much as I had hoped that his vote suggested. I have Republican family members so I have some experience with this type of situation, and one good friend who is libertarian (who is married to a liberal, and they have an agreement not to discuss politics). But I am perplexed by how difficult it seems to be.

So I was curious as to whether anyone here had any thoughts about this. Do you find it to be worth the effort to be friends with people who have very different views from yours? Do you simply avoid this type of friendship? Or have you found something that works for you?