By Jeff Orvis
Sometimes I wonder if I'm okay. Having
adjusted to being past the age of 60 for a little over a year now, I
figured by this time I would profess to being a conservative. After
all, many of the folks in my age group post plenty of hateful things
about the current administration, while religiously quoting sources
like Fox News, Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh as the purveyors of truth.
I guess I've concluded that if this
what it means to become older, I never want to grow up. If you asked
many of my friends, they would claim to be good Christians and loyal
Americans. Then their next statement is in opposition to any amnesty
for refugees, especially those attempting to escape the gangs and
drug cartels in Central America.
They profess to love their neighbors
as themselves in church on Sunday, then by Monday, they are backing
candidates or members of Congress who would cut Social Security and
other similar programs, that would send every refugee back to their
dangerous homeland and applaud a Supreme Court that seems to be in
favor of limiting access to birth control.
They hear their pastors preach peace
on Sunday, then support the National Rifle Association and support
open carry of firearms anywhere in public on Monday.
They hear that the road to Heaven can
only be attained by belief in a particular deity, then instead of
attempting to understand how someone else can believe something else,
they do all they can to put down those other beliefs and limit the
rights of those who don't believe the same way, even in a country of
supposed equal opportunity and separation of church and state.
It is perhaps unfortunate that when
saying the word “liberal,” it's quite possible to say it with a
bit of a sneer or sound of derision. But I came across something on
Facebook awhile back that clearly spells out why I hopefully never
outgrow the label “liberal.”
Entitled “I am a Liberal Because,”
it lists eight statements that I fully agree with and I really
believe that without the smokescreen of the heavily biased Fox News
and others, many of my friends would agree with. I am not going to
list all of the points here. You can access it on my home page on
Facebook. But some of the points include a belief that no one should
go without food, shelter, medical care or an education. It states a
belief in an open mind, everyone's right to speak their minds, a
belief in wealth and abundance, but not at the expense of others and
the belief that we need more things such as concert halls, museums
and libraries and fewer weapon factories.
Some of my friends are furious that
President Obama has his legal team busy advising him on how much
power he has to enact executive orders than wait for Congress to act.
If these people would spend their time demanding their congressmen
cooperate whenever possible and not have a goal of impeaching the
current resident of the White House, we might move forward.
Those of us who have nightmares of the
last administration might understand why some of our friends would
protest. But I shudder to think what kind of mess this country would
now be in if George W. Bush had tried to assume more power, other
than sending thousands of men and women into a war that some think
was based on lies.
Another favorite campaign for some of
these folks is their belief that we should all have the right to
carry firearms in public places. Backed by the all-powerful National
Rifle Association, they claim they need this right for
self-protection. Even with the recent mass murders in this country
involving people armed with automatic weapons, their answer is if
more folks were armed, these might have not happened. Never mind the
possibility of cross fire casualties.
Many of our returning troops are
suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Is it really a good
idea to allow these victims to be armed? Do we want a country like
Iraq or Afghanistan, where a man isn't a man when he leaves his house
without his assault rifle?
For many years, I have not been very
vocal on my political leanings. My columns and now my blog have given
me an opportunity to speak out some times. I truly appreciate my
readers, whether they agree with me or not. I have one friend, a
proud longtime union member, who claims that “all Republicans are
evil.” Another friend, who has retired after a long career in
federal law enforcement, may reply with a lengthy rebuttal to these
thoughts. That's why we live in this great country.
We all should stand for something. The
end of that Facebook post I referred to says it best for me: “When
you call me a liberal, it is not an insult. It is a badge of honor.”
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