I never thought I'd write a post about politics, being that I'm not really interested, nor discuss much about the topic. But for grins and giggles, laughs and guffaws, and the sake of possibly starting World War III, I'm going to open up and spew my political position all over your eyes. You'll get my entire history from A to Z, one to at least twelve, here to there, east to west and north to south—maybe even all the way to Covina. You never know.
My parents were good, churchgoing folks and tended to live and vote on the more conservative side. Regarding their politics, I don't remember much before the 1968 elections, but I know they were staunch Nixon supporters that year. Some of the kids in my fourth grade class at school had more liberal parents and a few referred to Nixon as a "lead head" (whatever that meant). Me, being as original as vanilla ice cream in those days, went right against Nixon and referred to him as a "lead head" at the dinner table one evening. Mom said nothing, but Dad gave me the lowdown on what Nixon and the Republican party stood for. From then on, I was convinced that the right was...right. I was a conservative.
Generally speaking, I stayed more or less "right wing" for many years, though I never did register to vote under the Republican party. To this day, my voter preference is "decline to state" or "non-partisan." Doing so was mainly to keep the political junk mail at bay and to stay off of anyone's list of people to contact. Phone calls during dinner are annoying as well, especially ones of a politcal nature. Don't even start me on sales calls.
I married a lady whose political views were very close to mine at the time. She may have some different views these days, but in conversations, I don't get the feeling that she's become more liberal-thinking. But we don't talk much about politics.
As time has gone on, national and world events have gotten me to spend more time thinking about what's best in terms of dealing with the various problems within the United States and in other parts of the world. My thoughts have begun to head toward the idea that the right isn't always right.
Until recently, if asked what my political viewpoint is, my answer would be "middle-of-the-road with a lean to the right." I still feel that being more middle-of-the-road is ideal because in the end, moderate, middle ground thinking will accomplish what is best for the largest number of people. Remember that you can't please everyone.
I mentioned earlier in this post that my parents were good, churchgoing folks who voted conservatively on candidates and issues. When you stop and think about it, most Protestant denominations lean heavily toward the right. I find that interesting because the conservative folks are the ones who tend to go with the status quo—keep things the same, whether bad or good. Change? Nope. Funny thing is that since we Protestants consider Jesus Christ to be our Savior and worship Him, we tend to think that He is aligned with our conservative values, though in truth, He was more liberal. His ideas and teachings went against the "conservative" Pharisees and leaders of the day, much like the liberals' do now. I really believe that if He were here now, walking the streets in the flesh and doing what He did then, He'd be considered quite the liberal by our standards.
If we're supposed to be following Him, perhaps we need to reexamine our conservative values. Change can be a good thing if it is warranted on an issue.
As a young man, I earned the nickname of Mr Conservo because I acted, behaved, and dressed very conservatively. Today, such is not the case. I will never become a sign waving, marching in the street, ultra left-wing Democrat, but everything about Mr Conservo is thankfully long gone.
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