Have any of you actually tried to have "the talk" with you parents/grandparents? Did you find out how pointless and futile it truly is? Me too. The idea that young people have that they can "change" old peoples views who have been set in their ways for decades is not only incredibly naive but in my opinion selfish. I dont dare to hold myself as superior to them, they are avid fox news watching, palin lovin, southerners, and i still refuse to look down on them for all the sacrifice they made for me and the wisdom (in other areas) they have. I disagree with them sure, but i wont judge them, thats the way they are and i accept them for it.

I tried having "the talk" as well, to no avail. Well, at least my parents now understand I have thought-out reasons for why I like Obama. But as for convincing them to change their vote, fat chance.

When you've harbored negative emotions towards one party for decades, no rational argument can get rid of them. Politics is about emotions, not logic - read the book the "The Political Brain" by Drew Westen. For my parents, negative emotions are attached to Democrats. They feel that Democrats embody different values from the ones they were raised with. And that's true. Progressive values are a new and scary thing to many people, who have grown used to a certain way of thinking. For example, progressives are much less nationalistic, and conservatives just don't understand why anyone would be less than 100% behind America. They start from different factual premises. So they see Democrats trying to act patriotic, and they think Democrats are being insincere. That's true to some extent. So they falsely conclude that Democrats secretly hate America.

When you think one way for a very long time, it becomes almost impossible to see things differently. So that's why "the talk" is usually useless. But by no means should you hide your support for Obama.

I'm sure "the talk" has changed at least one vote, so the process is worth it, and you both are a part of that, so thank you.

my parents are about to get it... in the form of that colon power video first.

My co-worker's parent voted first time in their life during the primary for Hillary. I'll be reminding my co-worker to make sure his parents don't stay home on Nov 4th.