As I’ve gotten older I find myself leaning more and more to the left when it comes to most things political. It is an odd position to be in considering how utterly conservative I’ve been in the past. I look forward to the yearly ritual of reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Heck, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh when I was in eighth grade. I discovered him all by my lonesome while messing around with an AM radio one summer morning. And I still like him. I think that he, above all others, articulates the layman’s conservative philosophy best. I enjoy Michael Savage and G. Gordon Liddy’s shows for their grittiness and wit. Incidentally, I like Al Franken for the same reason. Sean Hannity showed his true colors when he visited my alma mater a few years back and doesn’t get a second of my listening time.
Alas, I have spent too many hours these long years studying history and I have slowly turned away from conservative philosophy. I haven’t turned my back on it, but there are things I shall never believe in again.
So, there it is. Shocked? Will you never read this little blog again? Are some of you gearing up to disown me? I didn’t think so.
I am not a true liberal by any definition. I won’t vote strictly along party lines. I must confess that this state, from the original theocracy to the current Republican monopoly, has had lousy government. I chalk that up to a political party that has never had any real challenge and therefore no real accountability. So in Utah, I vote anything but Republican. Some say I am a sinner.
The problem is that there are only two real options on the ballot and I don’t totally agree with either. I hate gun control, I love the environment and think we have a responsibility to it, I detest corporate welfare and think it is the end of the free market, I like small business, I think that copyright law is outdated and the RIAA is a sanctioned mafia, I am weary of middle class shrinkage, I think that eminent domain and the recent supreme court travesty is horrid, I could care less about the supposed "character" of our leaders (history backs me up on this one), I think the National Guard and the Reserves are depended upon far too much to enforce INTERNATIONAL policy, I like Ted Nugent and Megadeth and Rage Against the Machine, I think that Dick Cheney should be allowed to speak at the BYU and that people have a right to protest his politics, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., and finally etc.
I will vote as an individual because I am an individual.