Remember me?
I was the self-described, far Left Wing, bleeding heart, radical, socialist Liberal progressive.
A strange thing has happened to me. I have become “grown-up” in my political views and understandings. I find that I am more moderate than I would ever have expected, or maybe it is “reality based.” I am still apparently on the far reaches of the Left on social issues than most, but I am down right conservative or moderate on most issues. . .please take “moderate or conservative” in their true definitions and not the Far Right’s misapplied and ridiculous meanings.
What am I talking about? Well, let’s look at war. I am not for war ever. Peace is never won through war. I am not against defending ourselves when defense is called for, but I will never be FOR war. I am very much a conservative when it comes to how we spend the Tax Dollars and balancing budgets. We need lots of oversight where money and spending is concerned. OTH I am very much for a distribution of Taxes in a more equitable way. For instance, 5% of what a poor person has as income is far more painful for them to pay than the small percentages the ubber wealthy pay. However, I am for economic leveling of the playing field in a responsible way. More incentives, more helping hand policies, but no Handouts for able bodies; give them help up with a living wage and opportunities for training so they can really support themselves and their families. I am for EVERYONE having a place to live, not be dumped out onto the streets. No one can really live on the streets and in homeless shelters. Where people need help we should help them, but that does not mean unending handouts. There are some really reasonable ways this can be done. Also, END EARMARKS FOREVER. We can do better than throwing $47.8 Billion dollars away on mostly nonsense “vote buying.” There are thousands of inventive, creative ways we can help communities, earmarks is not the way.
Here’s my most radical “moderate” view: Take politics out of doing the people’s business. There are NO Republican issues and NO Democrat’s issues, there are only the People’s issues. Democracies are supposed to reflect the majority’s views. Yes that means that some on the outlying edges of any particular issue will be disappointed. Which means I will, for the most part, be wanting more on social issues than will be agreed upon by the majority. We change by taking one step at a time. It has traditionally been painfully slow to make changes in people’s thinking, but if we don’t take the steps, always heading in the direction of progress, we will never get there. I think it will come much more quickly now that we are able to implement change. The atmosphere of the planet and the people everywhere is changing, we should be willing to be the leaders in that change.
No matter how much I would like to have my way on many things, what I know is that dealing with others, in any relationship of any kind, requires compromise. By that I mean “reasonable” compromise, and I am aware that many of us will disagree on what “reasonable” means. Some things cannot be compromised on because they are so inherently the “right way” to go, ie. . .civil liberties, equality in opportunities, adherence to the constitution, etc. It was a long and difficult process for me to learn the art of compromise. It came during my over 20 years of active participation in Unions as an Advocate and local, state and regional Union officer for Postal Workers. It was tough, but I learned. Being right about any particular issue does not necessarily mean that you cannot or will not compromise, depending upon what the compromise is.
Those of us who have lived for 12 years with the outrages we have felt at how “OUR business” has been run by the politicians in Congress and the Senate often feel this is a time of “pay back” and retribution. That is not a mature, reasoned and productive thought process. (And I am absolutely for accountability for everyone in every office everywhere) There has to be some listening on both sides, some reasonable compromises that will allow supposedly mature, thoughtful lawmakers to work together instead of constantly fighting with each other. Attempting to divide this nation through slimy, deceitful, partisan bickering is the worst possible way to bring about a consensus on anything. We have many, one could say a majority, in this country who want this juvenile behavior to stop. We should honor that.
None of this means that we should not go forward with the issues we feel are vitally important. This does not mean we should not call bullshit wherever we see it or hear it. We must be vigilant! But it is quite important that our elected representatives do so with a moderate tone of reconciliation and the importance of doing the People’s Business. I would like to hear the new majority remind their fellow congress persons and senators that the people have a right to expect them to work out the issues THEY (the people) feel are of importance to them.
If we act just like the Republicans have acted these past 12 years, then we are no better than they have been and the American People will hand us our hats in 2 years time.
I feel we must hold ALL of the representatives of the people accountable. And I sure as heck don’t care what party they are in. Those of us who have held and do hold strong political views that align us with one party or another really need to stop and take a breath and realize that the VAST MAJORITY of our fellow citizens do not consider themselves easily described by one party or the other. Most Americans see themselves as INDEPENDENT from party affiliation. There are no “Democrats for Reagan” there are no Republicans for Barak Obama (or fill in your favorite), there are only Americans that want you to do the best things for ALL of the Americans. People will support the candidate that can best present their views to them. . .people are NOT members of political parties, and that is the vast majority of people. People are hungry for representatives that will listen to them and then will actually represent them.
So, as we enjoy our feelings of elation over finally being able to speak, or at least our representatives have an opportunity to speak and offer oversight, I hope we will consider that we are a part of an amazing Republic that offers us the chance to experience a real democracy. That means compromise on my part, and on many other’s part. We need to stop yelling at each other and engage in reasoned conversations. We need to support and honor the 1st amendment right of free speech that we so often rage about. That means differing views do not mean that the person we disagree with is an idiot, or not entitled to offer their opinion. It is a discussion, not a yelling match that will move us in the direction we most wish to go.
These are just my post-election thoughts. You may find them totally out of sync with your own views, and I honor that. There are many ways we can find an acceptable common ground on many issues. . .if we work at it.
Hugs
Shirl
