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What kind of a liberal are you, anyway??
Author: TriSec    Date: 03/17/2012 13:17:08

Good Morning.

I've been pondering my position recently. Some of you have tangled recently on the book of faces with a person I respect very much for his activities through Scouting.

I've almost been tempted to make the comment to him that "it's awful tough being a liberal in a Scout uniform", but common sense has taken hold and I've not said anything. I also have a raging con in my Pack; the back of his vehicle is covered with a multitude of anti-Obama stickers, but again this has never been mentioned during the course of any official event.

When I ran for office, I tried to pitch myself as a social liberal while at the same time being a fiscal conservative, and as I did so I found quite a few people that at least on the surface shared the same point of view.

But where does that leave us? Neither of the national parties embraces that position. Liberal - you have one choice. Conservative - you have one choice. It doesn't matter what degree. Curiously enough, as far as matters of patriotism go, according to the mainstream I'd have to place myself in the Conservative camp, but I resist that idea. Like I said recently, neither side owns the flag; we all do.

Does it have to be mutually exclusive that because I happen to believe in things like equal rights for all, certain kinds of business regulations, or stepping in to legislate and enforce common sense and fairness principles when the people won't act in their own best interests? Some people think that just because of my home address, I *must* be a liberal. Unfortunately, just like I think that if you happen to live in certain places in the country, you *must* be an idiot, but I digress.

Joe Goebbels was certainly right in some regards...that old master of propaganda would be proud to see how people like Rush and Beck and all of Fox Gnus (and yes, some elements of MSNBC and Current too) continually manipulate and distort certain facts for their own purpose. I was listening to NPR recently and heard Rush called "America's most gifted controversialist", and the title certainly fits. (Besides, Evil Genius is already taken.)

As for me...I'll soldier on as I always have done. Like I said when Scott Brown first emerged, I really wanted to like him, but upon examining his positions, he might have had a couple of good ideas, but most of his website was hardline Republican spots. I simply can't support a candidate like that. It's all back to that mutual exclusivity again. I'll be the first to say it; I have dealt with Mr. Brown's office regarding Arlington Cemetery and some veteran's issues, and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity on these issues. I've also called his office to register my displeasure on some of his other positions, and I get the impression from his staff that those comments were immediately dismissed.

We are all complex birds in these United States. But I'll circle back to Scouts again just to illustrate where I'm coming from....in the darkest days of the Bush administration, it was all to easy to roll out the insults and the hate here. But on those Friday nights when I had to teach my scouts about Citizenship...it was always President Bush, with as much respect for the office as I could muster.

It is my fervent hope that somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line, there is another Scout leader that despite how much he hates Obama in his own home, he still recites the Pledge of Allegiance and refers to President Obama in a similar manner.
 

2 comments (Latest Comment: 03/18/2012 06:32:24 by livingonli)
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Comment by BobR on 03/17/2012 14:14:21
Thanks for this.

The problem with calling yourself "fiscally conservative" is that it means different things to different people, especially depending on where you are with regard to the rest of the political landscape.

Comment by livingonli on 03/18/2012 06:32:24
Quiet day. Then again I had another hockey game where I could watch the Sabres lose to the Panthers in a shootout.