Building a Platform
I find myself in a strange place, politically speaking. Lately I have been exposed to some things that have made me pull closer to one side or another on the certain hot-topic debates that are popular right now. What brought about this leaning was the occurrence of several events happening all at once. The first thing was an event that happened while I was working on that ranch in South Texas.
We were driving back from a long day of work, still deep in the ranchlands and driving down dirt roads. We came upon the front gate of someone’s ranch that had a flagpole with an upside down American flag flying high at its entrance. If I had not been in the backseat of a two door truck I would have jumped out and corrected this anti-American dictum. I sat there as we slowly drove by it and talked among ourselves about the possibilities of an honest mistake or illegals showing there animosity toward an apathetic government. Whatever the case I could careless about the reasons, I just wanted to do something about it. The rest of the drive home I thought about recent debate on whether or not to legally ban American flag burnings. While flying an upside down flag is not the same as burning it, it has the same implications. I also thought about the way that I constantly defend the right to freedom of speech and I will often take the side for such radical demonstrations when necessary. I feel there is some inconsistency between thought and action here: I like discussion about it and will take both sides of the argument but I’m intolerable with seeing first-hand the more radical views being demonstrated.
The second thing that happened was that I read George Orwell’s 1984. In all honesty, I would go as far as to say that this book actually made me a smarter person. It was a complete eye opener and perspective check. Looking at the world with such suspicion can drive a person insane and a level of trust has to be formed between government and media.
I realized that for the longest time I have only talked about the issues and never played an active role or seen the active role take place first-hand. This is mostly due to ambiguity about where I stand. And the book, 1984, helped me understand government and making government policies and amendments: there is a difference between personal views and general population views. A decision or stance that I would make for religious and personal reasons does not mean that I want the rest of America to have to make that same decision or take that same stance. What might be best for me might not be best for them and vice versa. Therefore, I find that I lean toward more liberal views when addressing the welfare of the country as a whole but I am relatively conservative when the views are taken on a personal level.
The middle road is a wide and well-beaten path but it is also open-minded and less noisy. And that is where I fit in.
We were driving back from a long day of work, still deep in the ranchlands and driving down dirt roads. We came upon the front gate of someone’s ranch that had a flagpole with an upside down American flag flying high at its entrance. If I had not been in the backseat of a two door truck I would have jumped out and corrected this anti-American dictum. I sat there as we slowly drove by it and talked among ourselves about the possibilities of an honest mistake or illegals showing there animosity toward an apathetic government. Whatever the case I could careless about the reasons, I just wanted to do something about it. The rest of the drive home I thought about recent debate on whether or not to legally ban American flag burnings. While flying an upside down flag is not the same as burning it, it has the same implications. I also thought about the way that I constantly defend the right to freedom of speech and I will often take the side for such radical demonstrations when necessary. I feel there is some inconsistency between thought and action here: I like discussion about it and will take both sides of the argument but I’m intolerable with seeing first-hand the more radical views being demonstrated.
The second thing that happened was that I read George Orwell’s 1984. In all honesty, I would go as far as to say that this book actually made me a smarter person. It was a complete eye opener and perspective check. Looking at the world with such suspicion can drive a person insane and a level of trust has to be formed between government and media.
I realized that for the longest time I have only talked about the issues and never played an active role or seen the active role take place first-hand. This is mostly due to ambiguity about where I stand. And the book, 1984, helped me understand government and making government policies and amendments: there is a difference between personal views and general population views. A decision or stance that I would make for religious and personal reasons does not mean that I want the rest of America to have to make that same decision or take that same stance. What might be best for me might not be best for them and vice versa. Therefore, I find that I lean toward more liberal views when addressing the welfare of the country as a whole but I am relatively conservative when the views are taken on a personal level.
The middle road is a wide and well-beaten path but it is also open-minded and less noisy. And that is where I fit in.
posted by Luke Lockwood at 8/22/2005 04:04:00 PM
1 Comments:
Luke -
Orwell certainly doesn't suggest that Big Government is the way to go, does he? I guess he wouldn't be big fans of Lyndon Johnson or W, really.
As far as the flag goes - an upside down flag usually means that somebody needs help. If that's what these people (how do you know they're 'illegals,' by the way?) meant, it could be any number of statements. People all over the political spectrum think our country is going down the tubes.
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