A conservative? Me? You Betcha!

A few days ago a friend and I were discussing the possible choices we had in the upcoming 2008 election. We compared conservative leaning candidates and liberal leaning candidates. Then, he happened to ask me if I had always been a conservative.
It sort of caught me offgard and I had to stop and think about it for a few minutes.

As I pondered the question, I thought that it had to be during the Iran/Contra affair that I stopped being liberal and started leaning right. But afterward, as I considered my answer, I realized that I had been a conservative for much longer than that.

I guess it all started with my Dad. He was ultra right-wing conservative from the get go. That’s all I heard growing up. I didn’t think much about politics though, and then Dad and I had a falling out over something silly, (I think it was about him not believing me when I told him the truth about some vandalism that had occurred. He assumed it was me and my friends, but I defended myself and said it certainly was not! It became a serious split). Anyway it was there that I started to become anti-Dad. Anything he believed in, well... I was going in the other direction as fast as I could run. I didn’t necessarily believe that I was a liberal thinker, I was just anti anything he stood for. What a stupid kid I was.

I went away to college and still didn’t think much about politics at all. Then JFK was shot. We were all very confused. Riots spread throughout the country over civil rights and people were taking sides. Politics was the only thing people talked about. Were you against civil rights? Or were you for civil liberties? It seemed obvious to me that the black man had a genuine gripe, but I still didn’t care very much about it one way or the other.
I still had my head in the sand because of my rift with Dad.

As I watched all the craziness in the world around me, music became a constant distraction. Of course I grew up with Rock ‘n Roll and knew almost every song on the radio, but I started to hear an alternative style of music. I found that the protest movement had a voice and it began to stir some hidden feelings in me. I began to listen to Gil Scott Heron and Bob Marley talk about life, freedom and the world as they saw it.
I knew who “The Man” was and he didn’t look very friendly to me at all, so I championed a liberal view to be “hip” and “cool” and tried to fit in with the “right crowd”.
I was becoming political!

President Johnson didn’t impress me very much at the time and when he decided to not run for re-election, the ‘68 election became a complete zoo. Not my style at all, I was more of a free thinker about political philosophy and I found flaws with much of the “right crowd’s” liberal point of view. In the early ’70s, I was beginning to like what Nixon was doing in the world, but then he changed all that with his shenanigans over at Watergate. Now, I was just mad. I felt totally betrayed, as many of us did at the time. I remember thinking, “you can’t trust any of these hooligan politicians!”

I was so depressed from a failed marriage and all this political unrest around me that I decided to take a break from life – I just dropped out. I went sailing and tried to clear my head. I had a lot of personal stuff creating conflicting messages to my brain and needed to work all this stuff out! Looking back on that time I can see that I was indeed lost and needed some direction...
ANY direction!
But, politics were the furthest thing on my mind.

I began to voice an opinion again in the early ’80s when Mr. Reagan beat that weasel Carter. I still can’t believe that this country elected that peanut farmer!
It wasn’t that I liked or voted for Reagan, or “Ronnie RayGun” as Gill Scott used to call him, but more that I was fascinated that we had elected an “actor" to be President! I was flabbergasted! So I watched his progress with a wary eye and wondered when he would fail. I knew the mask had to come off sometime!

Then, during Iran/Contra I witnessed Ollie North fall on his sword for the man. What was it that Ollie saw that I didn’t see in Reagan? I kept looking.

At the same time I was starting a new business and was feeling the everyday pressures of entrepreneurship and wondered why my taxes were so high? I started reading the financial page and listened to any news from Wall Street. Suddenly I saw much of the media coverage of news events as a sort of circus instead of hard reporting of the facts that I had been used to. Then it dawned on me...the entertainment business was taking over the news business and I was watching it happen!

And just as suddenly, a ligntning bolt from the blue… I realized that I was a conservative and didn’t even know it!
How did this happen?
Yes, I believed in Mom, apple pie and The Flag, but I thought everyone did? Didn’t they?
You didn’t have to be a conservative or a liberal to be an American.
You just believed in America! Didn’t you?
How wrong I was!

It became painfully obvious that not everyone believed in The Flag!
Some were ready and willing to defile it, and some would even burn it on the courthouse steps!
My blood was boiling!
And, there was ol’ Ollie North sitting before Congress testifying about a bad thing he had done. I wondered, just what did Ollie do to rankle all these powerful people? They said he sold guns and gave the money to the rebel anti-communists... He did what?
I was beginning to open my eyes at last! I remember thinking, my god… I had been asleep a very long time!

I was going to need to make a few changes in the way I did things!
I registered to vote again. This time I registered as a Republican. Before, I had always written “independent”. I remember thinking, what a joke! Independent my foot! Hell, you’re either for ‘em or against ‘em.
There’s no in-between!

I began to read more newspapers every day. In fact I consciously discarded the newspapers that were slanted to the “left”, and often said to my friends “that rag is a liberal commie-pinko newspaper! They're spreading Anti-American propaganda!"
These words were actually coming out of my mouth. The same mouth that sang along with Gil Scott Heron! I was again shocked, but this time, at myself!
Yes, I was a conservative. And proud of it!

I re-joined the NRA. I forget why I ever dropped out, now? I always enjoyed sport shooting and the outdoors. I certainly understand why some people say they “love the smell of casite in the morning”! Gunpowder and cleaning fluid can be very addictive!

Now, I only listen to conservative media. I prefer Michael Savage for his “take no prisoners” approach to conservative issues. Glenn Beck makes a lot of sense. Of course Rush is now a daily listen because of his outlandish style and wit, not to mention that he is right most of the time about how liberals can’t seem to get out of their own way! Some others rate an occasional listen but those three are my “usual”.

I think one needs to stand and be counted about his beliefs. And, I think conservative media is giving people like me a good “sign post” on the political road map of life.

Many conservatives take the position of not showing up at the polls to “teach them a lesson”. Well, being part of the “silent majority” just means that you’re being ignored. That needs to change.

Grass roots conservatives must become more active in national politics and more vocal about what they believe in. We must be heard over the din of liberal prattle or we don’t count at all!

Michael Savage has it right, “Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder!”
We simply cannot allow the country to be guided by these wimpy, tree hugging, politically correct weasels any longer!
The Feminization of America has to stop!
We need strong leaders to fight against this global threat of radical Islamic terrorism!

The Islamo-Fascists must be stopped or they will destroy us and all we believe in! Only strong-willed leaders can accomplish this and only strong-willed leaders can convince the rest of the world to follow.

I say to you, America, we must stop this bickering amongst ourselves… we must stop this constant snapping at the heels of our President… we must stand together to defend our way of life!

Liberals believe that help will arrive from some distant government outpost. Conservatives know the only help we can expect is our neighbor standing behind us ready with a freshly re-loaded rifle!

Yes, I am a Conservative. I’m just surprised it took me so long to realize it!