Don't put me in a box. I am more than a label, a word or a party in politics
By debrakcarey
@debrakcarey (19887)
United States
August 24, 2009 12:21pm CST
This discussion is dedicated to Anniepa...
I was inspired to post this discussion by a response to another one of my discussions by Anniepa.
I have presented myself here on myLot as a conservative Christian. I am not backing down from that.
What I would like to put into the mix...is that many of us conservatives do have 'liberal' ideas and feelings.
I grew up during the civil rights era...I was in middle school when Robert Kennedy ran for president and we talked a great deal about the Kennedy legacy. I remembered how I felt when JFK was assassinated. I listened to speechs by both the Kennedy brothers (exclude Ted on this one) and was proud to be an American, even at that early age. Granted, I did not understand all the politics of this era...but in my awakening social conscience (age 12) I thought that what they said was profound and it did make an impact on me. It still does. I have said over and over on the web that Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my heros in life. I am for the liberal side in civil rights. But as a citizen of this country who has lived 52 year in big cities and small towns and have seen what Affirmative Action has done to race relations, I've matured in my thinking and realize that an entitlement mentality does little to lift a people up to higher and equal footing. And it made me more than a little ticked off when as I attempted to enter the higher education circle...I was left out by way of scholarships and grants but those with LOWER test scores went.
I am more to the liberal side on issues like Consumer Protection laws and regulating industry, I oppose the death penalty, I feel it IS the governments place to protect endangered species and our environment. But what I see happening is that the liberals in Congress and in our society at large, often take a good thing way to far...and place the lives of animals above the lives of humans. Think on this...the liberal organization PETA which I could almost join (I am an avid animal lover) if not for how they seem to put animal lives over human lives. I am Native American...I have profound respect for the animals on earth and do feel that they should be protected from unethical treatment by greedy humans. I am left wondering when I see them in the media just how many of them would take a right to life stand for the unborn of their own species. I DO NOT feel that animal lives mean as much as human lives. I will not apologize for that. Again, I feel a good idea has been taken way to far.
Same with the EPA....I was a freshman in high school on the first Earth Day back in 1973. I remember feeling the excitement that we could all DO SOMETHING to preserve the beauty and bounty of our Earth. But as I participated in organizations like the Sierra Club and saw that they were attaching themselves to causes that had very little to do with helping our Earth, I stopped participating. Again...a good idea has been polluted with the liberal tendency to go over board. I do think we need to reduce our 'carbon footprint' here on earth...just not with the cap and trade plan...that puts millions of dollars in the hands of the few...and does little educate the common man about his actual impact on the enviroment.
The death penalty is another liberal stand I must take. I am NOT for it. Why? Our courts make to many mistakes and to many innocent people have wound up on death row. But again...this stand has been taken to the extreme amongst some liberals who feel that it is somehow a racial thing when it happens. It seems in this day and age...most problems in society are blamed on someone's bigotry or on racial profiling. We can't seem to find middle ground at all when we try to solve problems stemming from human interaction. Remember, I was profoundly moved by the plight of the blacks and the civil rights movement of the sixties. The laws were changed...the playing field leveled (slanted even) But someohow we thought the government should legislate how people thought just as much as how they acted. And I knew deep down that you CAN'T make people think right. Why is it that the government acts like it can make us all think right? And I know that most of America IS middle ground...so why is it so hard for our leaders to find that middle ground?
So...Anniepa and all of you who label yourself liberal....please know that there are some things I am liberal about. I just don't agree that more government is better...and I trust those who actually have to live under big government to tell me what works and what doesn't. I have lived 52 years...the first presidential election I voted in, I voted for a democrat...it was the party of my immigrant family. But after living under the heavy hand of a government that wants to control just about every facet of my life...I have come to the conclusion that less government is better. I guess that makes me a conservative.
Now...can we try to find that middle ground?
I was inspired to post this discussion by a response to another one of my discussions by Anniepa.
I have presented myself here on myLot as a conservative Christian. I am not backing down from that.
What I would like to put into the mix...is that many of us conservatives do have 'liberal' ideas and feelings.
I grew up during the civil rights era...I was in middle school when Robert Kennedy ran for president and we talked a great deal about the Kennedy legacy. I remembered how I felt when JFK was assassinated. I listened to speechs by both the Kennedy brothers (exclude Ted on this one) and was proud to be an American, even at that early age. Granted, I did not understand all the politics of this era...but in my awakening social conscience (age 12) I thought that what they said was profound and it did make an impact on me. It still does. I have said over and over on the web that Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my heros in life. I am for the liberal side in civil rights. But as a citizen of this country who has lived 52 year in big cities and small towns and have seen what Affirmative Action has done to race relations, I've matured in my thinking and realize that an entitlement mentality does little to lift a people up to higher and equal footing. And it made me more than a little ticked off when as I attempted to enter the higher education circle...I was left out by way of scholarships and grants but those with LOWER test scores went.
I am more to the liberal side on issues like Consumer Protection laws and regulating industry, I oppose the death penalty, I feel it IS the governments place to protect endangered species and our environment. But what I see happening is that the liberals in Congress and in our society at large, often take a good thing way to far...and place the lives of animals above the lives of humans. Think on this...the liberal organization PETA which I could almost join (I am an avid animal lover) if not for how they seem to put animal lives over human lives. I am Native American...I have profound respect for the animals on earth and do feel that they should be protected from unethical treatment by greedy humans. I am left wondering when I see them in the media just how many of them would take a right to life stand for the unborn of their own species. I DO NOT feel that animal lives mean as much as human lives. I will not apologize for that. Again, I feel a good idea has been taken way to far.
Same with the EPA....I was a freshman in high school on the first Earth Day back in 1973. I remember feeling the excitement that we could all DO SOMETHING to preserve the beauty and bounty of our Earth. But as I participated in organizations like the Sierra Club and saw that they were attaching themselves to causes that had very little to do with helping our Earth, I stopped participating. Again...a good idea has been polluted with the liberal tendency to go over board. I do think we need to reduce our 'carbon footprint' here on earth...just not with the cap and trade plan...that puts millions of dollars in the hands of the few...and does little educate the common man about his actual impact on the enviroment.
The death penalty is another liberal stand I must take. I am NOT for it. Why? Our courts make to many mistakes and to many innocent people have wound up on death row. But again...this stand has been taken to the extreme amongst some liberals who feel that it is somehow a racial thing when it happens. It seems in this day and age...most problems in society are blamed on someone's bigotry or on racial profiling. We can't seem to find middle ground at all when we try to solve problems stemming from human interaction. Remember, I was profoundly moved by the plight of the blacks and the civil rights movement of the sixties. The laws were changed...the playing field leveled (slanted even) But someohow we thought the government should legislate how people thought just as much as how they acted. And I knew deep down that you CAN'T make people think right. Why is it that the government acts like it can make us all think right? And I know that most of America IS middle ground...so why is it so hard for our leaders to find that middle ground?
So...Anniepa and all of you who label yourself liberal....please know that there are some things I am liberal about. I just don't agree that more government is better...and I trust those who actually have to live under big government to tell me what works and what doesn't. I have lived 52 years...the first presidential election I voted in, I voted for a democrat...it was the party of my immigrant family. But after living under the heavy hand of a government that wants to control just about every facet of my life...I have come to the conclusion that less government is better. I guess that makes me a conservative.
Now...can we try to find that middle ground?3 people like this
2 responses
@StarBright (2798)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Wow!!! We don' agree on everything, but we can certainly be friends. We're both somewhere in the middle.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Why thanks Starbright! Now what is it we disagree on? 
2 people like this
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
25 Aug 09
I loved reading your response....you make sense! lol
As concerning race relations...I lived and worked in Gary, IN. for a time. I met some very racist blacks who hated me just cause I was white. I know how that made me feel...angry, helpless, confused, and sad. I know there are whites who hate blacks that way...and it makes me feel all those same things when I run into one who feels like that.
But I also met some people (who were black) that reached out to steady me. Who opened their hearts to me and who tried to understand and help me understand. One friend said to me...'I look at it this way, slavery is evil. But slavery is the reason I am living in a free country with all the benefits that come with it, instead of Africa, where people are dying of AIDs and dictators are killing their own people.' Her attitude made me smile. She was a nurse and she was a very compassionate caregiver. I learned alot from her about what the black people CAN do if they quit feeling angry and look at the positive.
I think our media and our government and our educators (some) make the difficulties between the races worse. There ARE differences in culture and outlook. There are things to overcome still. If we all could just look at each other as individuals and quit stereotyping...those on both sides who are actually working at understanding would stand out and those who held on to prejudice would fade to the background. It's difficult to do that when you are told by the media, by the government and the college proffessors that whites are evil (for something in the past?) and blacks are justified in their racism (the idea that blacks can't be racist)
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
25 Aug 09
Putting someone into a box is how we're trained to think these days. It's really sad, because you find it on every level from every "type" of person in America (and even the rest of the world for you internationals reading...).
It takes a very cool head and a lot of self-worth to look past your own political beliefs and realize that someone in opposition isn't necessarily the enemy.
I'm DEFINITELY guilty of boxing people up from time to time. It's quicker. It's easier. It's a breeze to write around. It stings more. But I do try to approach both the topic and the person/people when I engage in a political discussion. The person you're speaking to is equally important as the topic, if only for the reason that they're entitled to their belief too.
Not for nothing, and I'm not trying to turn my comment into a liberal flame session, but bridging these gaps should be something to come from the top down. Our leaders should lead by example in this respect. Using the word "respect" again, respect shouldn't be something left to a grassroots effort. Unfortunately, however, we've lost it in the mainstream.
We have a President promising to bridge gaps and reach across the aisle. But he insists on flaming the country's largest media network and all of its viewers. Others like Pelosi and Frank spit their vile garbage, and in Frank's case, he insists that it's perfectly acceptable to label someone -- to put them in a box!
Why? And Bush had that type of crap going on in his inner circle as well. Though I never heard him, personally, box up his opposition, I do know that the tone was all disagreeing with war-time policies were unpatriotic. That certainly isn't fair!
The media take it to entirely new levels. A double standard in America has become the ebb and flow. Tilted scales are made to weigh the same by the side with the heavier hand. How did Americans EVER let this nonsense happen?
There will always be a culture of hate so long as there are people on earth. I'd like to keep them on the blogs and on multiple accounts on myLot, personally! I don't want them becoming parents, pundits, professors and politicians.
We're out of whack as a country. You're literally SUPPOSED to put your opponent into a box, especially if that opponent isn't progressive.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
25 Aug 09
Everything that is wrong with mankind...greed, lust for power, hatred, lies, etc. It has all risen up with a new intensity.
I too wonder how it got this way. When I looked for the answer I found that we became complacent about it all. Things like honesty in media, politicians who were not only dishonest about public things, but whose personal lives were a testimony to all of the above. Do we not realize that a man with little character, who can lie to his wife...will lie to US? Do we not believe anymore that it IS character that matters? NOT the degree or the bank account? I saw this big time during the election...proof of Obama's lies were blogged about all over the net, and people said, "so what."
And when the majority of people are doing the same things as the politicians...lying, cheating, and hating...it is a given that they won't demand strong character from those leading them. They will make excuses for them and say it doesn't matter as long as he does his job. It is absurd.
I guess we all just fell for the 'anything goes' mentality. We really fell for the lie that it didn't matter what you did as long as you had fun doing it or got rich doing it. And for those real nasty vices...didn't get caught doing it.
1 person likes this
