How The Conservatives Made Me Realize That I Am a Liberal
An acquaintance of mine is the most ultra conservative man that I have ever met. He is a republican who listens to Rush Limbaugh and believes every word that Rush says. He blames liberals for all of the problems of the world. I once mentioned to him that I listened to NPR, and he said “I didn’t know that you were a tree-hugger”. He is very homophobic. For example, his wife and son are not allowed to watch television shows with gay characters or people, such as Will & Grace and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. Also, he does not want his son to watch Dancing With The Stars because he is afraid that his son will want to be “a queer ballroom dancer”.
In 2006, I cannot believe that a person could have such a warped view of the world. Yet, I am well aware that there are many people just like my acquaintance, and some people who are worse. I have never been a political person until recently. I started thinking about the war in Iraq, and could not figure out how we got there. One day we were going after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and the next day we were invading Iraq. Then, I started thinking about current political issues such as stem cell research. The Right continues to fight against stem cell research, even though thousands of people could be helped by this research. Then, I started listening to talk radio, both left and right wing, to learn about more political issues. I was shocked at some of the stances taken by conservatives. After considering everything, I realized that I lean toward the left. It took the conservatives and George W. Bush to make me realize that I am a liberal.
In 2006, I cannot believe that a person could have such a warped view of the world. Yet, I am well aware that there are many people just like my acquaintance, and some people who are worse. I have never been a political person until recently. I started thinking about the war in Iraq, and could not figure out how we got there. One day we were going after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and the next day we were invading Iraq. Then, I started thinking about current political issues such as stem cell research. The Right continues to fight against stem cell research, even though thousands of people could be helped by this research. Then, I started listening to talk radio, both left and right wing, to learn about more political issues. I was shocked at some of the stances taken by conservatives. After considering everything, I realized that I lean toward the left. It took the conservatives and George W. Bush to make me realize that I am a liberal.
posted by Brick at 10/28/2006
4 Comments:
what is sad, is that I do believe in the original Conservative values (low taxes, small government, etc.) but I too am forced to the left because of their extreme viewpoints that make up the current conservative party.
By inclination I'm probably moderate/right (to the extent those sorts of labels have any value.) Keep government out of the board room and out of the bed room to the extent you can without allowing one to damage the (mainly property) rights of another. (Though I take a broad view -- I see pollution as damaging my property rights, for example.)
Anyway, the current Republican Party -- especially on the national level has caused big government spending and expanded government power at the expense of the rights of the states and the citizens. The American system being what it is, that gives me exactly one other real choice - the Democrats. Over the past 30 years, they've been better at balancing the federal budget. In historical terms, they haven't been particularly tax-happy. (See the 40s - 60s for much, much higher tax burdens.)
Has your wife read this?
: )
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