I’m not really liberal (This one)

I’m not really liberal. Growing up, I was all for the American dream and what it represented. I believed in right and wrong, and a sense of fairness. I could see balance and thought voting for the best candidate for the job was best, regardless of Party politics. I considered myself a centrist with an open mind. The ultimate devils advocate; I was able to see both sides of any issue. I thought it was a gift.

Change is a constant of the universe, and a part of our lives. America is always changing; it’s a fact that people of all demographics must reconcile. In the time when I was coming of age, Conservatives wanted small government, and I was all for that. Liberals wanted civil liberties, I certainly wanted that too. Then something strange began to happen, like a cancer had been spread across our nation. Conservatives who didn’t want these liberties were fundamentalists with no concept of equality, and those who had no use for them already had them due to the wealth they incurred on the backs of the poor and disenfranchised. It became clear to me over time that our government was expecting a lot in the form of taxes, but not returning much to its citizens. Oh, we spent plenty on the Cold War, as if the Soviets were ever really going to attack us after the Cuban Missile Crisis. We couldn’t possibly take care of the poor or infirm. Democrats were weak on defense, you know. That war machine had to be fed, and congressmen had to line their pockets with their own self interests instead of those of their constituents. Serving your country used to be an honor, as it was about sacrifice for the nation, not the country serving you.

There were a few defining junctures in my life where I had epiphanies about these issues. I realized that this whole tax and spend liberal nonsense was not only untrue, but it was a setup. Republicans destroy the system, lets use an example, like healthcare, education (no child left behind?), poverty, or welfare, and you can quickly see that Democrats, or Liberals as they are so often called, are called into service to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, this also often requires money as well as manpower and good ideas. When the next election cycle comes around, you can be sure of three things that Republicans will bring up: how flag burning and gay marriage should be outlawed via a Constitutional Amendment, and how Liberals tax and spend. Count on it like Mondays.

Currently, they are twisting this tactic for another reason: the War in Iraq. The President and his blind mice have issued statements with just enough truth to them that the average uneducated citizen will fall for the Party Line. That if we “cut and run,” they will “attack us again at home.” And they are right on this point.

With such a damaging foreign policy in place, eventually, we will be struck again. Ten months from now, or one-hundred years from now, we will be struck again.

I can no longer see both sides of the political argument. Conservatives have mixed the playing field intentionally by tossing in religion as it’s base. When you take logic out of the equation, how am I to make a sound decision? If you’re not with us, you’re a terrorist. If you’re not a Christian, you’re a heathen. If you’re not a Republican, you’re not for the Republic. It’s actually a great strategy, as it has thrown the Democratic Party into dysfunction. Why? Because it works. Because there are that many simple minded folks in this country who do not think logically, and how else do cowards like Hillary Clinton and the most of the Republican base vote? On fear. You can’t argue your way out of fear.

There is so much blood and guilt on the Republican Party’s hands, that I am sick inside. And to be sure, the folks who support the Party, actually think its just that, a party. That our troops should die some more, just so the ones who have died ought not to have died in vain. And then, the ones who die avenging them?

At some point I decided that I was Progressive, because that’s what this country was founded upon; Progressive ideals.

How we react to each situation is important, which brings me to “patriotic folks” stating “our troops are fighting for our freedom,” or “dying for us.”

No, they aren’t. In fact, more civil liberties have been lost since the Bush administration took control of the United States and proved that Republicans were weaker on defense by ignoring the signs that we were going to be attacked prior to 9/11/01. Our liberties are disappearing on our own soil while our troops are dying trying to bring democracy to a people who don’t want it. What Conservatives strangely forget is American history. British citizens in America, inspired by French Philosophers (inspired by ancient Greeks Philosophers) became traitors against the state. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were all terrorists. The Boston Tea Party: An act of terrorism. The American Revolution? Most certainly an act of war. American Minutemen? Insurgents. If you’re uncomfortable with that thought you’re probably a Conservative living a lie. Real Conservatives would have been Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, and Tecumseh. I would have joined that Party in a second. Think on that for a while.