Independent Thoughts

Not too long ago the leftist faction of America’s mantra was “honor diversity”.  My understanding of that was that all lifestyles, points of view and choices were to be “honored”.  Turns out they weren’t serious.

Today I read an article that said that if I didn’t jump on the gay marriage bandwagon I’d be on the wrong side of history.  What?  Why do I give a baboon’s butt about how history will judge me?  I’m not a public figure; I’m a middle-aged guy living in the suburbs.  I don’t want to join the hive, nor do I think I should have to.  I want to simply live my life based on my values.  Apparently, that’s not possible in our current age.  Because by living as I always have, I’ve suddenly become an enemy.  To whom?  To every “right thinking” person in America, if the media is to be believed.  See, that’s the part that bothers me.  The media, as the propaganda arm of extremists on both sides, is using massive peer pressure to get their point across.  Everyone’s doing it, and if you don’t you’ll be square.  Of course, they don’t say “square”, they use phrases like “the wrong side of history”, “unenlightened” and “bigoted”.  Funny, but ten years ago I, as well as the vast majority of this country, had the same opinion that I currently hold and none of these epithets were tossed about.

I’m not “progressive”, nor have I ever wanted to be.  I’m also not buying into the Tea Party line.  I don’t feel the need to belong to either camp.  I've never been an "in crowd" kind of a guy.  Besides, being cool pretty much stopped being an option when I lost my hair.  (But, of course, that’s now a “disease” with a cure, rather than part of being a man.  A modern man has a full head of product packed hair and not another occupied follicle on the rest of his body.  When I was young, that condition was called “pre-pubescent”.)  My bald head spins when I hear people who claim to be “free-thinkers” or “defenders of family values” tell me where to eat my chicken.  Really?  Now I need to check in with the collective mind before I go out to lunch?  If that’s the point we’ve arrived at as a nation, we’re all out to lunch.

In 1980 I was 19 and excited to be voting in my first presidential election.  Jimmy Carter had proven his incompetence and it was time for a real president to take over.  I went to the voting place and proudly cast my vote for Ronald Reagan.  Afterward, at dinner, I got into a fairly heated discussion with my girlfriend’s grandmother. (Yes, I was a rude punk.)  She had voted for the independent candidate, John Anderson.  The basis of my argument was that it was a foregone conclusion that Reagan was going to win, so why throw away your vote?  History proved me right as Ronald Reagan won in a landslide.  The problem is, I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Voting, like morals, isn’t a horse race where we’re trying to pick the winner.  It’s a declaration of our deepest held beliefs.  Can those opinions change over time?  Of course.  But, they change based on how our personal experiences mold our convictions, not because some imbecile on the internet, talking head on the TV or ranting voice on the radio says it’s time to think differently.

When Hitler needed an enemy to rally his cause, he chose the Jews.  They had been living peacefully and contributing to their communities for many years when, suddenly, they became enemies of the state.  This was done through a combination of propaganda and government programs.  Recently public officials in Boston and Chicago have indicated that they would block a private business because they don’t like the political views of the owner.  How is this different from the Jim Crow laws?  It’s one thing when blowhards on MSNBC, Fox News, or AM radio are pontificating.  But, when it goes from citizens expressing their opinions to government leaders exercising their influence, a line has been crossed into very dangerous territory.