People have labeled me and my politics, but are they correct?

 

Over the years when I have made a post or posted a comment about someone else’s posting on social media that was political people have made judgements and accusations about my politics.  They were sure they knew my political beliefs and freely expressed their belief about my political leanings online, like a lot of people it got worse during the 2016 Presidential campaign and the first year of the Trump administration.  Finally I got frustrated and posted examples of when I was told I was a flaming liberal and others when I was a far right conservative and even called a closet bigot, I asked people if they were so sure of my politics to post what they believed they were and why.  Well it has been over three years and no one has taken me up on the challenge of describing my politics.  I decided to go ahead and answer that challenge before writing a few article ideas I have.

 

Here is a refresher for those that saw my original challenge on social media and a little history for those that didn’t see it.  When then Senator Obama announced that he was going to run in the primary for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States I expressed that I was glad and was looking forward to voting for him, I was labeled a liberal.  Then after he won the nomination and I began to watch some one on one interviews and presentations broadcast on CSPAN I had issues with his stated goals and policy ideas.  I thought if President Obama was successful with some of his goals, especially regarding fossil fuels, I believed that lower income people would be hurt the most because of the resulting increased fuel costs that would result.  For that I was labeled right wing, some said my disagreements were based on race and nothing more.

 

When I thought some of the media and Republican politicians’ criticisms were not valid and said so I was called a liberal or someone that was only defending the President to show that I was not a bigot.  Then after President Trump was elected I would do the same as I did during the Obama administration, if I agreed with something I would say so and if I thought something was wrong or handled incorrectly I said so.  The result was more of the same and sometimes worse, I had people that I had known for decades, people that I considered friends tell me that they never thought I was a bigot or supporter of bigotry.  However, when they read something, I posted criticizing something the media had done (just as I had done when President Obama was in office) they now realized that I was a “closet bigot”.

 

Well since people decided instead of answering my challenge just continue labeling me with their perception I thought before I wrote any more political pieces I would take the time to tell you my political views and maybe then you can label me based on some facts instead of your preconceived ideas.

 

I was born in the latter part of the 1950’s in Pittsburgh, Pa but the first President I remember is John F. Kennedy.  I remember his campaign and adults talking about his being an Irish Catholic, needless to say my being of Irish decent and Catholic this got my attention.  During the 1960’s I began to pay attention and formed some opinions, people thought that they may have been my mother or grandfather’s ideas, but they were my own.  I believed that the government should ensure that everyone had the same rights, that it should be responsible for the defense of the country, ensure everyone had access to healthcare and education including college.  I also believed in worker rights, although I did not know that was what it was called, I just knew that workers should be treated fairly.

 

The part about providing a college education hit home for me when I was a senior in high school.  One evening my mother said she wanted to talk with me, and we went out on the back porch for some privacy.  My mother asked me what my plans were for after I graduated?  I was not sure what exactly she was asking, and she explained that she wanted to know if I was planning on going to college or just join the workforce full time?  I talked with my mother about careers I was seriously considering and my goals but had not decided which college degree would serve me best and then asked her why she was asking?  My mother hesitated and seemed reluctant to tell me but she finally told me if I wanted to go to college she could help me but that she could only afford to send one of us to college and if I chose to go to college she wouldn’t be able to send my brother to college (he was graduating high school the year after me).

 

Without hesitation I told my mother to send my brother to college, he had better grades than me and between the two of us I thought he had the better chance.  I told her that I would get a full-time job and help her financially while my brother was in college, I could always get a college degree later.  I could see how bothered my mother was about needing to have this conversation so I tried to make her feel better, I explained that I didn’t mind because it was the responsibility/ duty of the older members of the family to help the younger succeed.  While I did not want my mother to feel bad about having that conversation with me, I can remember thinking that in a country as great as the U.S. was, she should have never had to have that conversation with one of her children.

 

Until now I hadn’t shared that story with a lot of people and those friends that knew this story couldn’t figure out how I became a Republican, especially because I was also from Pittsburgh and when I was living there the steel mills and unions were active and a part of life.  Well, that is the second part of the story I have rarely shared until now.  My family moved to Florida in 1972 and I had heard the stories that in Southern politics you were either Democrat or nothing.  I did not know if that were true, but it made no difference because I had long ago decided that I would register Democrat when I was of age.

 

Every quarter one of my high school years a counselor would call all the students that turned 18 to his office so they could complete a voter registration card.  When my time came, I was looking forward to registering, a group of us went to the counselor’s office and began to complete our cards.  In addition to my beliefs and coming from a “union town” this was just after Watergate and President Nixon’s resignation and pardon.  I proudly filled out my voter registration card and selected Democrat.  As I was signing my card and about to turn it into the counselor another student was handing in his card, the counselor stopped him and made an announcement to the group that we had better register as a Democrat otherwise he would not turn in our cards.  I tore up my registration card and asked for another one, he assumed that I had originally chose Republican.  I filled out a new card and he was smiling as I handed it to him, when he saw that I had chosen Republican the counselor got angry!  Before he could say or do anything, I dared him not to turn in my card.  I told him that if I didn’t receive my voter registration within the next month (that was how long it was taking students to receive their cards) I would be at the following School Board meeting and discuss some of his conduct that would not be very flattering to my school or the School Board.  About a month later I received my voter registration card, I was now a registered Republican.

 

I did not like some of what I witnessed growing up regarding law enforcement interaction with people, so I decided to join a police department and try to make a difference.  I also became active in my department’s union and later the Health Insurance Trust for officers and their families.  My beliefs haven’t changed a lot since I was growing up, I still believe that all should have access to healthcare and a college education if they want without their parent(s) having to have the conversation my mother had with me.  My problem with what politicians have put forth in recent years is the way they wanted to provide and pay for these things (these are topics for future posts).  Since becoming an adult I also have concerns about how the government spends and the resulting deficits.   I also grew up with the philosophy that as you succeed you should help others, as an adult I still believe that, society will be a better place if we help one another but that help needs to be sincere and not for a tax deduction.

 

I normally end my writings by asking "That’s my opinion, what’s yours” but instead I think I’ll end this by just saying that this is a brief explanation of beliefs, what drives my politics so now if you want to judge me or stick me with some label you can do so with a little knowledge.

 

Our Parents Were Correct

 I’m constantly reminded of a lesson our parents tried to teach us and until we all remember the moral to that lesson nothing will ever change for the better.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016 many said that a replacement shouldn’t be nominated until the new President was elected in 8 1/12 months, the American people should have a say. That argument was a crock back then because the American people had a say in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected and while the election of a new President was taking place in 8/12 months there was still 11 months left in President Obama’s term.

Now people are arguing that President Trump shouldn’t make a nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because there are 44 days to the next Presidential election.  While that maybe true they are ignoring the fact that there are 122 days, approximately 4 1/2 months left in his term.

It was wrong for people to say President Obama shouldn’t nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia and it was wrong for Congress to block his performing his Constitutional duty of nominating that replacement. Just as it was wrong in 2016 it’s wrong now, Justice Ginsburg said as much when asked back in 2016.

I started this post referencing a lesson our parents tried to teach us, If your friend jumped off a cliff would you jump off a cliff?” (in some regions it was a bridge instead of a cliff)

If you don’t believe that lesson is relevant let me rephrase the sentiment, if you thought back in 2016 that President Obama should wait but now think President Trump should go ahead with a nomination or in 2016 you thought President Obama should go ahead and now that President Trump should wait do me a favor, stop claiming that the political party you support is better than the other because you’re demonstrating that their both the same!

Technology Has Become Our Humanity?

 Have you noticed how busy we all seem to be since the advent of the internet and social media, the smartphones so we can get on both? 

 

There was a time when we would go to work, then have family time and also socialize with friends.  By socialize I mean actually see them face to face, in person and communicate with our voice not our keyboard!  But now our idea of spending quality time with a friend is direct messaging, instant messaging, a text or video calling, we’ve lost that personal interaction.  We’ve created a new language with texting abbreviations but seem to have lost the ability to actually carry on a verbal conversation.

 

Don’t get me wrong I know there has been good come from the technology advances, those that aren’t able to get out because of health issues or not able to travel can still stay in touch with their loved ones but technology shouldn’t be a substitute for our humanity.  It seems that helping now is making a few clicks on an app instead of actually showing up in person, we express our “concern” now online instead of actually interacting, it’s emotionally safer for us.  Worse than that we use social media to hide, it used to be that words had consequences.  We used to be more cognizant that our words could have an emotional, negative impact on a person because we saw their facial expression or body language but now we can let go of our anger without a concern for others because it was done with a keyboard.

 

There used to be an expression that “action speaks louder than words”, but that is no longer valid, the modern saying should be “Posts are more important than actions”.  No matter what you do in life it doesn’t count and didn’t happen if you didn’t post about it on social media.  You can post about a wrong on social media and now a days that’s all you have to do; you are a social warrior!  Actually, stepping away from your keyboard and doing something doesn’t matter anymore, unless of course you record it and post it on social media.  We have come to a point that if it’s on the internet it must be true, as a society we’ve gone from my minds made up, don’t confuse me with facts to I saw it on the internet so I don’t need any facts.

 

I remember in 1999 people were told that come New Years 2000 all electronics may stop working, Y2K is what we called it.  People were concerned that if this were to happen life may get a little harder, it may take a little longer to do things manually, but we would survive.  If Y2K were to actually happen today do you think we could survive without our laptops or smartphones, could we actually perform life’s necessities?  Could we actually carry on a conversation using language instead of text abbreviations?  I doubt it.

 

Some of us used to joke that people were so mesmerized by texting that in the future detectives would not be able to conduct an interview.  In the future instead of speaking with a suspect you would have to give a suspect a device and then text back and forth.  Shortly before retiring from a police agency in 2007 I rejected an arrest affidavit because the entire narrative was written in all texting abbreviations, as the officer was rewriting that affidavit suddenly that joke wasn’t funny anymore, it had become a reality!

Will the pendulum continue moving further away or will it return to the center where technology is simply an aide and not a controlling part of our lives?  I hope so but have my doubts unless someone develops a humanity app.

 

That’s my opinion, what’s yours